


Dawning Of A New Age

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: 240 Universe [2]
Category: Avengers, Excalibur - Fandom, New Avengers - Fandom, X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers, x-factor - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Still a character study, just a different character than before, mostly - Freeform, sequel to Age of Magneto, trying for making the kids happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2020-02-08 16:10:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18626677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: Ten years after 'Age of Magneto' ended we pick up with our young heroes as they start to (finally) come into their own. Second Story in the 'Age of Magneto' series, please read that one first as this is not a stand alone based on established relationships/timeline futzing.





	1. Human-Mutant Relations

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! And welcome back - this is the not-so-long awaited sequel to "Age of Magneto". We join our heroes after a ten year jump from last we saw them. Lots has changed, but the best things have stayed the same! So let's see where everyone is and what's gone on since last we saw them.

**Chapter 1: Human-Mutant Relations**

* * *

 

 

"Let's get out of here and have some fun."

Kate grinned as Tommy leaned over to whisper in her ear in the middle of class. They were  _supposed_ to be paying attention to human-mutant relations, but considering she and Tommy had been literally living in the mansion and living the dream their whole lives - and considering Kate herself  _was_ human living in a house full of mutants - she was tempted. She really, really was.

"C'mon," Tommy said, leaning a little more out of his seat so he could reach her better. "Human-mutant relations: Advanced Kissing Edition."

Kate couldn't help but laugh at Tommy - and then when Scott gave them both a dry look with his eyebrows raised over his glasses, she laughed a little more openly. "I'm the top of the class in that course," she whispered back over her shoulder when Scott went back to his lecture.

"Exactly," Tommy said. "We don't need the remedial stuff."

"You make a good point."

"Plus, window's open. I can totally get us out in the time it takes him to say 'this is a boring class'."

"You're on," Kate whispered - and she'd barely gotten the words out before she felt him pick her up. The next second, they were out on the lawn and laughing.

"See?" Tommy grinned and pulled Kate into a kiss before he'd even set her down. "It's almost the end of the semester; the sun is out; and  _why_ would we stay inside on a day like this?"

Kate couldn't stop laughing as she kept her arms around Tommy's shoulders. "We're in so much trouble - you know that, right?"

"I'm in trouble every other day," Tommy said, shrugging easily before he kissed her again. "Let's get in a little more."

Kate laughed again as they ran, hand in hand, toward the treeline, still stealing kisses the whole time until they were decently out of sight of the school and the kisses were becoming more frequent than their running steps. This was what she liked about dating Tommy - he was always fun.

They stumbled through a few more steps until they were totally wrapped up, with one of Kate's hands in Tommy's hair and the other wrapped around the back of his neck, while Tommy had both of his hands at her waist and kept pulling her tighter.

And Kate didn't stop him - not when she was having so much fun. Tommy had a way of turning everything into an adventure, keeping her off-track and making her guess what was coming, and she loved that rush.

Or, well, she did - up until the moment he shifted so that he had one hand on her waist and the other up her shirt as he said, "Let's find a place, huh?"

Kate paused and pulled back slightly to look Tommy in the face. He was still grinning ear-to-ear as he met her gaze, and it was hard to say no to him when he was so  _fun_. But when he pushed her shirt up a little more with his other hand on her bare back, she put her hand on his chest and physically put the distance between them.

"Slow down, Tommy."

"Those are totally foreign words," Tommy said, still smiling, though he had stopped trying to take her clothes off.

Kate shook her head at him and laughed before she leaned in to kiss him, and the makeout session resumed more or less like it had been before - until Tommy's hands started to drift again.

"Hey." Kate stopped and put a finger in Tommy's face, though he looked totally unapologetic. "What did I just say?"

"I'm going slow," Tommy protested. "You don't want a room - I heard you."

Kate rolled her eyes at that and put her hand on his shoulder instead, strong-arming the distance. "I'm dating you for  _fun_ , Tommy. And that's a little too far for  _just fun_."

"That and your parents would totally know if we fooled around, right?" Tommy asked.

"They would, but that's so not the point here," Kate said, smiling in spite of herself.

Tommy shook his head and tried to lean in and steal another kiss, but Kate's stiff arm stopped him. "Hey, you're hot, and I like you. What's the problem?" he said, shaking his head at her. And then, when Kate didn't budge, he rolled his eyes. "You really think Kurt and Meggan  _aren't_ -"

But that was too far over the line for Kate, and she flushed bright red before she kicked Tommy's feet out from under him. "Really?"

"It's an open secret, Kate," Tommy said from the ground. "So maybe  _you_ need to figure out what your definition of 'fun' is, because I'm fine fooling around while you play games, but you need to decide if  _you_ are."

Kate stared at him and then let out a noise of pure frustration before she spun on her heel and stalked back up the lawn, her face a beautiful shade of crimson that had her completely forgetting for the moment that she was very much in trouble for skipping class - in the middle of class.

She was still red-faced and didn't really want to go in where the other students would be just getting out of their classes anyway, so she tried to slip in through the garage. But she didn't realize her dad was already there - she'd forgotten he'd given a test in history, and he always came to the garage once the test was over. He gave the kids as much time as they needed and then left once they were done.

"Pull up a creeper," Logan said without looking up at her.

Kate paused and then let out a sigh before she wound up underneath the old Mustang she'd been restoring with him, since she'd just turned sixteen and had bugged him for a car long enough that he told her she had to work for it. And considering she'd grown up handing him tools since she was four, this was relaxing for both of them.

"There a reason you were  _out_ instead of nappin' in Slim's class?"

Kate flushed red again. "Yeah," she said, hoping he'd leave it at that - though she knew she'd already totally busted herself. When Logan set the wrench down and turned her way, waiting to hear what the excuse was  _this time_ , she let out all her breath. "It was Tommy's idea-"

"You're really gonna screw yourself over for one of his ideas?"

"No," Kate blurted out, turning a little redder before she pushed her hair behind her ears. "Class was almost over anyway-"

"Yeah, no," Logan said, shaking his head at her. "Try again."

"It doesn't even matter," Kate huffed, crossing her arms and looking away - since she could never really stand it when her dad gave her that look, or worse yet - the tone. "I'm not…" She trailed off, realizing she hadn't really  _done_ anything about the way things were with Tommy. He'd just… kind of left it open for her to fool around if she wanted. Which didn't make her feel that much better about the whole thing either.

"Sure it matters," Logan said, getting back to work, though he was clearly irritated. "You're skippin' class to suck face with the delinquent; it matters." He tipped his head and tested the waters. "As long as that's  _all_ you're doing. Otherwise, I might have to skin him."

"No," Kate said, flushing angrily all over again.

"Just seems like that's where you're headed."

"Yeah, you're not the only one who thinks that," she muttered, crossing her arms a little tighter on herself

"So I  _should_ skin him."

"I dunno. No," Kate said, still unable to look him in the eyes. "I … told him no, so that's that, I guess."

"Historically speakin', that don't hold much water with that family."

"Yeah, well, so he left it open," Kate said, her fingers drumming against her crossed arms. "But I'm  _not_ that interested," she said quickly.

"Then quit playin' around with him," Logan said. "If he's gettin' to the point of thinking it needs to go further, cut him off at the pass."

"Yeah," Kate said, and that was  _going_ to be all she said, except she ended up blurting out, "You don't think Kurt and Meggan are-" and then cutting herself off before she could finish the question.

Logan turned her way entirely. "What the hell does that have to do with it?"

She blushed furiously. "It's just - something Tommy said-"

Logan frowned at that, studying her for a long while. "So's this some kind of stupid race then? Who can be dumber faster?"

" _No_."

"Then what the hell do you care about what anyone else is doin'?"

"I don't," Kate insisted.

"Katie."

She quailed a little under his dry look. "I don't," she muttered again.

"Do I gotta go put Tommy in a cast?"

"No," she said almost sullenly.

"I will."

" _No_ ," she said, her eyes wide. "It's not like - Dad, I can take care of myself. I know how to strong-arm a guy, okay? It's  _fine_. It's stupid, but it's  _fine_."

"Listen, I know you've heard your share of crap around here about any given person on the team, but do me a favor and don't treat yourself that  _cheaply._ "

Kate dropped his gaze, feeling like she was five and getting caught trying to steal cookies from Charles' office. "Okay," she said quietly.

"You can do better'n a Quicksilver knock-off."

"I know," Kate said, this time with a small smirk.

"Since you know so much," Logan said, "you probably know you've got some kissin' up to do with Slim. For the next two weeks."

"Dad!"

"Hey. If it was the first time, I'd go easy, but it's not."

"But it's the  _last_ , I swear," Kate said.

"We'll see about that." Logan waited until Kate headed for the door inside. "Your idiot sweetheart's got runnin' time with  _me_. No powers. Think I might make him wear a weight belt, too. Or carry his brother."

"Oh, don't punish  _Billy_ ," Kate said. "He hates waking up early."

"Yeah, but your mom said he'd be okay if I gave him a horsewhip for the run."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Mom spoils him because she thinks he and Teddy are the best thing since graphite arrows."

"She spoils Billy 'cause he ain't tryin' to get into yer pants every damn minute."

Kate flushed again. "I told you I cut him off."

"Sweetheart," Logan said, shaking his head, "this power set's a pain sometimes. And around him, it's a  _real pain_ lately."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I got it, Dad. I picked a dud. Fun while it lasted."

"You're too impatient," Logan amended.

"Yeah," Kate said, letting some of her honest frustration show. She really  _had_ liked dating Tommy, and she actually wasn't all that sure she wanted to  _stop -_ except that she knew her dad was right and they were in totally different headspaces. "At least he was better than Eli."

"Eli's lucky he's still  _alive_ ," Logan said in a low growl.

"I'm pretty sure that's because you caught him before Mom did," Kate said, almost smiling at the memory - since Logan had caught Eli yelling at Kate for some stupid something or other and had  _not_ liked it.

"No, it's because Cap stopped me," Logan admitted. "You didn't see the run-in after."

"No, apparently not."

"Doesn't matter now," Logan said. "You need to go ask Scott when he wants to see you before he comes lookin'."

Kate let her shoulders drop. "Fine," she muttered, pushing herself up to her feet.

This was just  _not_ her day.

* * *

Tommy hadn't gotten off clean either, as it turned out. He'd been running along, trying to get out of the funk of Kate's bad mood, when he very suddenly stopped right where he was, mid-step, and then found himself in front of his mother.

"You're grounded," Wanda said. "Again."

Tommy flashed her a brilliant smile. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, sweetheart," Wanda replied, unable  _not_ to return the smile. "You'll be running with Logan at five every morning for the next two weeks. With an inhibitor collar. And I'm told if you complain, he's already asked Billy to help make it worse."

"Seriously?" Tommy threw his hands up to illustrate how unfair he thought this was.

"Seriously," Wanda said, nodding.

"So, what, I have to wear a collar at the crack of dawn and we didn't even  _do_ anything?" Tommy groaned. "That's not cool."

"I was told it was for you skipping out of Cyclops' class," Wanda said, one eyebrow raised. "So what did I miss?"

"Oh, no, we totally skipped out on class; that part's true," Tommy amended.

"To do  _what_ , Thomas?"

He held his hands up again. "Geez, Mom. It's not like Billy and Teddy aren't getting hot and heavy lately - or didn't you know that?"

"Are you really comparing yourself to your brother? Are you that competitive?"

"Um, that's not the point," Tommy said.

Wanda folded her hands and smiled pleasantly. "Do you love her, then?"

"Wow, Mom, that's … no, we're not  _that_ -"

"Then you shouldn't even be trying to get further than you have. You do know that could be very bad for your health, right?"

"Hey, it's not like we weren't on the same page," Tommy protested. "She just wanted to have fun too. I thought the problem was when you're  _not_ on the same page."

"The problem is also when you're skipping class to try to get more alone time."

"What can I say?" Tommy said, grinning brilliantly. "You've seen her, right? She's gorgeous. Total spur of the moment thing."

"You can't do that," Wanda said.

"Why not?"

"Because it makes being on the same team hard for everyone," Wanda said, hoping that would mean something to him.

Tommy sighed heavily. "It's fine, Mom. I'm about 95% sure she just broke up with me anyway, so…"

"That really doesn't make me feel any better," Wanda replied, looking honestly sorry to hear that.

"Yeah, well, it happened," Tommy said, shrugging it off as best he could. "It's fine. Not like I didn't know what I was in for, seeing as I've known her since we were kids."

"And you've been stealing kisses since you were kids," Wanda said.

"She's pretty," Tommy said. "And she never dated Kurt, so I figured I'd take my shot, right?" He shrugged. "It's fine."

"Are you going to be alright?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah, sure; I'm always fine," Tommy said, shrugging again. "No biggie."

Wanda sighed and crossed the distance to wrap him up in a hug and kiss the side of his head. "You don't have to be like this if you're hurting, sweetheart."

"I'm okay," Tommy said, though he had a tight hold on his mom all the same.

"I don't believe that's true," Wanda said. "But you should talk to Logan about what he expects before he comes looking for you."

"Yeah. Whose idea was it to make me run with me ex's dad, again?"

"Scott's," Wanda said.

"He's secretly a sadist, Mom. A  _sadist_."

Wanda kissed his cheek again. "Not so secret."

* * *

Kurt had been reading in the study after class - minding his own business - when he heard Tommy complaining about getting in trouble again. Kurt couldn't figure out how someone so fast was so easily caught. Often. But it wasn't overly interesting. Not when it happened  _so often._

At least, it wasn't interesting until Kurt heard his own name.

And of course, everything after that was  _very_ interesting. Kurt listened, shocked at all that was coming out - though when the conversation seemed to peter out, he was sure to look totally engrossed in his reading. Which was probably one of the easier acts he'd pulled off in the last few weeks.

It was just so …  _fortuitous_  how the timing was working out. Especially when the professor's old friend, the esteemed Dr. Moira MacTaggert, was set to open up her  _own_ facility in Scotland to accommodate some new mutants that didn't want to move to the States. And Meggan was pining to go back home. So it was clear to the two of them that their little romance was quickly coming to an end.

Kurt hadn't totally ruled out going  _himself_  to the new school, but … if Kate was actually  _interested_ , then he didn't see a reason to follow Meggan overseas. It was just a matter of testing the waters well before then.

And from the sound of it, Kate was going to have to do the one thing that she really despised: getting up early to  _run_. But at least on the trouble meter, she wasn't into the dangerous territory. She was going with  _Scott,_ which meant a long but reasonable run, where Tommy was stuck with Logan, who never failed to find a way to make it a miserable experience.

But that meant Kurt could try and make it less miserable for her if he only woke up a tiny bit earlier - and had coffee waiting when she got in.

His tail was swaying behind him as he headed for the stairs, though he paused and considered his options. Yes, coffee would be a good move, but for as  _hot_ as she'd be after her run,  _iced_ coffee would be better. He redirected himself to the kitchen to start looking for the things that K used when she made iced coffee and set to work - since if it was going to be done  _right_ , he knew well enough that it would have to sit overnight. And then he could simply get it prepared while she was out being miserable with Scott.

He was sure to put the cold brew in the back of the fridge when he was done, where it sat overnight, undisturbed and unnoticed.


	2. Don't Do The Crime

When Kate got in from her run with Scott, she was tired, sore, sweaty, and  _miserable_. It didn't help that before they'd even started the run, Scott had taken her aside and given her a lecture about how bad it looked for one of the few humans in the school to skip  _that particular class._ And that just had Kate feeling pretty crummy, because it wasn't like she didn't hear all the time at school that she didn't belong there - or, conversely, that she was like the humans that still hated mutants after Erik ran roughshod over them.

 _And_  he'd made sure to let her know that since she was a junior X-Man, her actions also reflected on the team.

So, yeah, while she didn't have the tough run with Logan, she  _did_ have the total guilt trip from Scott, and she wasn't happy about it.

She was totally ready to crash - except that when she got to the kitchen, Kurt was there.

"Kate," Kurt said, looking perfectly surprised as he finished mixing up a full pitcher of iced coffee. "I didn't realize you were up so early. If you give me a few minutes, I'll have some iced mocha to share."

She blinked a few times, not even noticing how hard Scott was smirking as he passed both of them by to go upstairs to where Jean was probably still asleep - assuming the kids weren't awake yet.

"What are  _you_ doing up so early?"

"I knew that if I didn't get up and finish this myself that K would get to it first, and I didn't trust that she wouldn't turn it into something else entirely."

"That's… a very good point," Kate said, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"And it  _is_ officially spring," Kurt said, mixing in the chocolate.

"That's true," Kate agreed as she sat down at the table, her head tipped to the side as she watched him.

"What did you do to offend Scott so?" Kurt asked, peeking up at her as he worked, wearing a sly smile the whole time.

"I… may have skipped his class and therefore offended his  _honor_ and the honor of my  _family_ and of the junior  _X-Men_ and my entire  _species_ ," Kate said, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

"That sounds very serious for one class."

"Yeah, well…" Kate shrugged. "It… doesn't look good for the only human in the class to skip human-mutant relations."

"I don't know," Kurt said as he put some ice into a pair of glasses. "It seems to me that one of the few humans in a school full of mutants knows well enough how to handle mutants respectfully."

"That was kind of what Tommy said when we skipped," Kate admitted. "But I like your version better." She waved him over and, once she had her glass in hand and had taken a long drink, let out a sigh of pleasure. "Yes. This is  _exactly_ what I needed. My hero."

"Any time," Kurt said with a smile.

Kate leaned back, still smiling to herself and enjoying her morning for the first time— even if she was very, very tired. "Do you do this every morning and I just missed it? Because that would be a  _crime_."

"I  _could_ ," Kurt said. "But then I feel as though I may need to change the flavor every day."

"Right. I forgot you can't stand to be  _bored_ ," Kate said, shooting him a teasing grin.

"I thought it might be a fun surprise that way," Kurt countered.

"Also something you're known for," Kate teased. "Don't think I don't know about you and Kitty teaming up on Remy, because I do."

Kurt rested his hand over his heart, doing his best at looking mortally offended. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Oh, sure," Kate laughed. "You're totally innocent."

Kurt's innocent expression stretched into a wide smile an instant before he teleported over to her, still grinning. "I am. Totally innocent. Always."

"You're such a liar," she laughed.

"I merely stretch the truth when it needs it," Kurt said, then offered her his hand. "Did you want a refill or some help shortening your trip upstairs?"

"Yes, both of those things," Kate agreed. "I need to sleep for a  _week_."

He nodded and pulled her to her feet to teleport her up to just outside her room, then disappeared only to return with a full pitcher of iced mocha. "Hopefully this will tide you over."

Kate burst out laughing before she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. " _Du bist ein Held!_ "

Kurt laughed and then swept into a deep bow. "At your service," he said before straightening up and then disappearing again.

Kate was still grinning and shaking her head to herself as she let herself into her room. She set the pitcher down and changed before she picked up her spoils and headed for her parent's suite, not trusting that one of the other students wouldn't snatch the pitcher while she was off saying hello to her mom. When she got there, it was clear her father wasn't back yet, or the door would be open, so she let herself in, carrying her full pitcher as she passed James and ruffled his hair. "Hey, James," she said.

"I thought you were in trouble," James said, though he didn't bother trying to straighten his hair up as he turned to watch her.

"I was," Kate said. "But Kurt let me steal his iced mocha."

James frowned at that, scrunching his nose up. "Why?"

"Because he had some to spare, I guess," Kate said. "And he has good taste."

"I thought…" James stopped mid sentence and then simply sat down again. "Nevermind."

"What?" Kate sat down by her baby brother with an easy smile.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.

"Okay, keep your secrets," Kate said, kissing the top of James' head. "I'm going to down a pitcher of this stuff and then crash. Scott gave me the full 'you've got to live up to the name' lecture."

"So don't do the thing that made him do that," James said.

"Yeah, no danger of that happening, seeing as Tommy and I broke up," Kate said, making a face. But when James raised an eyebrow, she put a hand over her heart. "For real this time. Not like last time."

"Okay," James said slowly. "Does that mean you're watching movies tonight with us?"

"Sure I am," Kate said, giving him a little hug. "Are Jubes and Kitty coming too — or is Kitty flirting with Piotr tonight?"

"He's really old," James said.

"He is. I tried to tell her that, but she won't listen to me. I'm the  _little_ sister of the bunch."

"It's kind of gross."

"It kind of is," Kate said, booping him in the nose. "You're smart, James. You know that, right? And not just at math and school stuff."

"Nope."

"Well, you are," she said, getting back up and heading off to find K — though she didn't quite make it there before K and Sophia caught her and Sophia came running up to her to hug her leg.

"Hey, Soph," Kate said, bending down to pick up her baby sister. "Why are  _you_ up this early?"

" _Hi_ ," Sophia said brightly, leaning back to reach for James.

Kate laughed and let her sister back down again before she lifted her pitcher to salute her mom. "Hey, Mom."

"Um-ummm," Sophia was saying, toddling after Kate with her arms out, opening and closing her hands. " _Share_."

"You have good taste," Kate teased.

"Don't you dare," K warned as she scooped Sophia up and away from the half-empty glass Kate had left on the coffee table.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna," Kate promised.

"How was the run?" K asked. "Was it worth the face sucking?"

"Ugh." Kate rolled her eyes. "Scott gave me a lecture about living up to my family name and the X-patch and everything."

"Was he wearing a flag when he did it?"

"No, but he had the full-on Disappointed Dad look and you  _know_ I can't handle that look, Mom. I can't."

"It's his greatest weapon," K said with a shrug. "And he knows it."

"Evil genius," Kate said.

"I'll make sure he hears that," K said.

Kate shook her head. "Yeah, no. I'm in enough trouble as it is, thanks."

"Have you even  _talked_ to Tommy yet?" K asked.

Kate winced one eye shut. "Um, no?"

"You a scaredy Kate?"

" _No_ ," she said quickly. "But I'm trying to put a little - I  _do_ like kissing him and he's hard to say no to and—"

"Yeah, I don't know how but you managed to take after me too much. Stop that."

"Can't. I love you too much, Mom," Kate smiled her way.

"Still — you're supposed to be smarter, please," K called back to her.

"I'm trying," Kate promised. "I  _did_ stop him, after all. I'm not  _that_ easy."

"That's something," K said in a flat tone before she held her hands up. "Not judging on  _you_."

"He …"

"Wasn't judging on him either," K sang out. "He's been like that since he was old enough to walk."

"Yeah, I know," Kate said, then let out a sigh. "Maybe I should take a break from boys for a while. I keep getting in trouble."

"Cute new girl?" K asked.

"We'll see," Kate said. "But I just meant maybe I suck at dating."

"Runs in the family. Can't be helped," K told her. "So don't make the same dumb mistakes I did, okay?"

"If a cute, sweet rich guy comes along and saves me from an egomaniac and starts wanting kids, I'll let you know," Kate replied without missing a beat.

"Oh good; those are the dangerous ones," K said. "Almost as dangerous as the ones that have all your same interests and are  _patient_  enough to wait you out."

"Definitely. At least with Tommy, the problem's straightforward." She paused. "Was."

"Yeah. His grampa was the egomaniac that floated when his panties got twisted. It might be genetic."

"Billy's the one that floats, Mom," Kate laughed.

"And he's the sweeter of the two. Weird."

"Hey, Tommy's sweet too," Kate defended.

"I know," K said, blinking at her. "But he needs to have a sugar crash before that happens."

Kate shook her head. "If you say so. Me? I'm just taking Kurt's coffee from heaven and hiding until my legs stop killing me," she said, once again snatching up her pitcher as she headed for the door.

K closed one eye as she watched Kate. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, Kurt totally took pity on me when he heard I got a Scott lecture."

"How much did he make?" K asked, crossing her arms.

Kate held up the pitcher in answer.

"And he gave you the  _whole batch_?"

"I was really sad-looking and post-Scott?"

" _No one_  is that sad-looking."

"I'm also cute?" Kate pointed out.

"Yeah, okay, that too," K agreed.

Kate grinned at that and waved over her shoulder before headed back out the door of the suite to go back to her room, leaving K to shake her head at how  _much_ like her Kate was turning out to be.

* * *

It wasn't long after Kate had disappeared that K took Sophia to spend a little time with Jean, since the whole morning commute thing was a lot easier when Sophia wasn't feeling fussy like she was after Kate refused to  _share_ her coffee with the little girl.

James was almost relieved to get to the little genius school that Tony had found for him and Maria, but he hadn't gotten the chance to sit down for more than a few minutes before Maria made her way over to say hello like she did  _every_ morning.

"Hi, James!" she sang out, reaching over to fix his hair, since it was  _always_ sticking up some way or another. And then, like always, she kissed his cheek. "G'morning."

"Good morning," he replied with a little smile. "Do you know what we're supposed to be doing today, or are we leaving early?"

"Nope, we're staying," Maria said. "I didn't catch all of it, though. Peter was showing me how his webshooters work, and I think he can fix 'em for me to use without super strength, and I got distracted maybe thinking about having powers, so I wasn't paying attention this morning."

James ducked his head so he could peek up at her. "Do you think you'll have powers?"

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "My biggest brother does, but my other brothers don't, so it's a tossup."

James nodded. "If you could pick, what would you want?"

"Flying," she said without missing a beat. "I like flying with Mom and Dad, but I wanna do it myself."

"Okay but wings or armor?" James asked, smiling a little wider and all but ignoring the teacher as he pulled out his math book.

"Wings for sure," Maria said, nodding seriously. "Or armor with wings. Why not both?"

"I like that," James agreed. "But you'd need  _your_ colors."

"Uh-huh. Lots of pink and bright blue," she agreed.

"Easy to spot," he said as the two of them started on their work - though both of them were absently running it down and paying more attention to each other than their math.

"So's yellow and so's red."

"Yep, but my Mom wears black," James said.

"Your Dad wears yellow," Maria said.

"Yeah, he does. But I don't know if being easy to spot is the best idea all the time."

"Are you gonna wear black?" Maria asked, twirling her pencil between her fingers.

"Probably oughta see if I can even  _be_ a hero first," James said. "I don't know if I want to if Kitty's still tryin' ta kiss Piotr. Or if Kate's still being gross with Tommy."

"Oooh, yeah, you gotta keep your sisters from bein' dumb. That's important. My dad says boys only want one thing, but he won't tell me what yet."

James frowned at that. "Your dad's weird sometimes. I thought he tells you everything."

"He does!" Maria said in a sharp whisper. "But he says that's something he'll tell me when I start kissin' boys more than just sometimes like I kiss you."

"I hate when they put conditions on stuff," James said. "Probably just worried about sex. That's what my Mom and Dad are watching Kate for, anyhow."

Maria nodded slowly. "She's not stupid though right?"

"Not most of the time," James agreed.

"Grown-ups are weird," she said, nodding fervently.

The two of them continued chatting, heads together as they worked for most of the day like they did almost every day, though by the middle of the afternoon, it was pretty clear that James wasn't feeling quite like himself, and he was sniffling a lot.

"You really don't look so good," Maria said, her eyes wide with concern as they walked out of their last class. "Don't get me sick - I hate bein' sick!"

"Keep your lips to yourself, then," James teased.

"Oh, but that's so  _hard_ ," Maria teased right back.

James chuckled at that but didn't argue with her. "I don't think I'll be back tomorrow."

"I'm sorry you're not feeling good," Maria said. "I like having class with you. You're my favorite."

"I'd hug you, but I don't wanna get you sick."

Maria tipped her head to the side … and then hugged him anyway. "That's okay. If I get sick, I can watch cartoons. And I like hugging you."

"You just like hugs," James said with a little smile.

"Uh-huh. All the time, from everyone," she agreed.

The pair of them climbed into the car to head to Westchester with all of Maria's siblings, though as soon as they were loaded up, James pulled his feet up under himself and half curled up on the spot to sleep on the way back.

Tony didn't wake him up either and when they got to Westchester, he let the kids pile out of he car before he picked James up to carry him to the Howletts' suite. The little guy seemed to catch every single little bug that went through the school, so when it happened, Tony just took him to his Mom and let her know what was up.

"Delivery for one 'James' Mom'!" Tony called quietly, rapping on the door with one hand as James was curled right up - just a little smaller than the other boys his age.

"Again?" K said, looking over her shoulder at him from where she was half curled up with Sophia — just into a good nap. "He's going to end up doing most of his schoolwork  _here_  at the rate he's going."

"I asked Hank to look into it, actually, but he says he's just… susceptible. Nothing wrong with the immune system or anything. But I did check," Tony said.

"Aren't you just the little mother hen?" K teased as she situated herself so that James could lean on her and snuggle up as soon as Tony half roused him and set him down.

"Hey, I was curious how he could get so sick when his parents are  _healers_ , okay?" Tony said, shrugging openly.

K raised an eyebrow and smiled his way. "You could have just asked  _me_ , you know."

"You had your hands full when Sophia came down with the last thing he brought home from school. I thought I was being polite?"

K nodded. "Which was actually very, very sweet. As usual," she said.

"Don't spread it around," he teased.

"Everyone knows that already, Mr. Stark. But if you'd  _asked_ , I could have told you I was sick a lot when I was little. It's just the way it is."

"Huh. Didn't realize that was a pattern," Tony said. "I mean, in hindsight, it makes a weird kind of sense?"

"I don't know if it was the case with Logan or not, but it wasn't fun for us out in the woods."

"The magic of technology," Tony said with a nod.

K was watching that James was settled in — already asleep where he'd curled up into her side — and she found herself glancing up at Tony. "Think you can take the other one to lay her down? I'm kind of stuck now."

"Oh no. What a nightmare. A tiny little girl."

"I know, it's a burden for you, isn't it?" she teased.

"Definitely," he laughed, scooping Sophia up before he rearranged her and settled in contentedly in the chair nearby so they could chat.

"You're such a squishy little thing," K said, smiling at how Tony had so quickly gotten comfortable.

"You've been saying that for years now, and it doesn't make it any truer," Tony shot back.

"If something is inherently  _true_ , then it can't get any more true," K replied. "There's nothing wrong with it, Tony. They love you."

"I'm just so darn loveable," Tony said, grinning easily down at Sophia. "And I've got a house full of boys, so…."

"You do at that," K agreed. "And we've got all of Logan's girls. And James."

"Yours, mine, his, and ours," Tony teased.

"As it's been from the get-go," she said, nodding.

"And probably will be for a while if Maria gets her way. She told me this morning she's marrying James, so watch out," Tony laughed.

K laughed along with him. "Well, I hope he's alright with that."

"She knows what she wants; what can I say?"

"They're  _seven_ ," K said, still laughing.

"What, you didn't want to get married when you were seven?"

"No."

" _I_ wanted to be a dragon. I'm still sad about it."

"I'm sure you could fit fire-breathing into your suit," K replied with a grin. "If you wanted to."

"Don't think I haven't looked into it," Tony said, laughing outright.

"Could be a new team-up," K almost sang. "Dragon and Phoenix …"

"Talk like that and I'll get a laser beam up my—"

"I said team-up, not sordid affair. Clean your ears out, old man."

"Can't — they're as dirty as my mind."

"I think it's good that James is as sick as he is most of the time - gotta try and give him a chance to keep from being that dirty himself."

"I know; I'm such a corrupting influence," Tony teased.

"Absolutely," K agreed. "Wouldn't be any fun if you weren't."

"You know Howie's chasing girls now too," Tony said with a smirk.

"I'm not surprised," K said. "Katie broke up with Tommy. Again."

Tony leaned forward, more interested at that. "What do you think — is our girl finally  _done_ or are we going to find them making out in the hall by next week? They've been on again and off again for a couple years now."

"I don't know," K said. "Sounded like he was pushing a little too much."

"Need me to tell him to be respectful?" Tony grinned. "I mean, the messenger's not great, but…"

"Ah, let it go. He's running mornings with Logan right now. No powers, and under threat of a horsewhip, so …"

"Good. Keep the mini-Magneto away from our girl."

K smirked. "Funny you put it that way," she said. "He told the kids he'd have Billy get a piggy back ride from his brother if he talked back, but he didn't  _ask_ Billy. He asked  _Teddy_."

"Oooh, smart," Tony said, nodding approvingly. "Me, I'd've just stranded him in space for a few days — no gravity, no friction, no running — but I like that threat too."

"If he'd pushed too much, he'd probably have lost something vital. Eli almost did."

"Eli was full of crap and I should have blasted him into Mars for treating her like he did."

"Logan nearly killed him. It was  _your_ work sweetie that stopped him."

"Yeah, well, Steve's like that," Tony said, waving a hand. "Not that the kid got off easy. You ever heard a dressing down in respecting women from Captain America and then got stranded in the Bronx?"

"No, can't say as I have," K said.

"The man can make you feel like you kicked your own grandma just because you overslept…"

"Tony," K almost sang. "Have  _you_ ever gotten a dressing down in respecting women from Captain America and how come I haven't heard about it yet?"

"Um. I plead the Fifth."

"I need the timeline, Tony.  _Please_."

"Pleading the Fifth!" Tony sang back to her, honestly chuckling to himself.

"So mean to me," she said. "I should tell Cap."

"You just want to set up a camera to record the star-spangled man."

"I really, really do," she agreed, grinning broadly.

"Well, tell you what, if Katie ends up back with that speedy little punk, I'll sic Cap on him just for you, huh?"

"Yes, please," she said. "Logan said he's calling him a Quicksilver knockoff. To his face. He's not taking it real well."

"Yeah, I don't imagine he is. The kid really is idolizing Pietro, too," Tony laughed, shaking his head.

"Pietro thought it was hilarious," she said. "Go figure."

"Your in-laws are weird, K. You know that?"

"At least it's just the one side," she said with a shrug.

"True. I think I did a pretty good job with Vision, if I do say so myself," Tony said, puffing himself up.

"It's a good thing he's advanced since then," she teased. "On his own."

"You wound me so," Tony teased, one hand on his heart.

"Payback for your hiding behind the Fifth."

Tony grinned outright. "Hey, I know my rights."

"Clearly," she agreed.


	3. New Student Orientation

The kids at Xaviers usually got Sundays to themselves …  _usually_. Of course, those that were old enough, and had been training with the team regularly. So the kids that were working on being heroes like their parents loved the weekends where there were joint team practices. So when it was announced that there was going to be another combined practice, most of the kids on the junior team were excited to get to watch and  _maybe_ even join in when the Avengers came to play.

Which made it all the more frustrating when Kate was asked to to show a prospective student around. Though things had been a touch easier on mutants, there was still a lot of negative backlash in other areas of the world. It was a pretty normal thing to meet someone new that had an exotic accent or came from somewhere so much smaller than even New York state that was honestly impressed with the sheer size of … well. Everything.

But that didn't make up for the fact that Kate had wanted to get a shot at practicing with the senior teams. On seeing the pink-purple-haired new girl though, she couldn't help but tip her head out of sheer curiosity. This … wasn't exactly a  _rescue_ situation. Not for as well dressed as she was, or considering the fact that this girl was travelling with who could only be her brother. "Hello," Kate called out, putting on her best, most approachable tour-guide-Katie face. "I'm Kate, and apparently, I'll be your guide today."

The purple-haired girl turned her way with a smile that lit up her face, and all at once, Kate recognized her from a few of the fashion write ups that she'd seen, though the hair was definitely different. "A pleasure," the girl said, offering her hand. "Elizabeth Braddock, and this is my brother, Brian. I was told your school helps those with … erm … special abilities?"

Her accent was perfectly British, which really just made the pink-purple hair that much more shocking. Since … she was clearly aristocratic and not a punk rocker. "Yeah, that's like, most of the student body," Kate agreed. "But not all of it. Hi." She waved the tips of her fingers. "Not a mutant."

"Neither am I," Brian said. "I was afraid my sister might surround herself  _only_ with mutants."

"Nah, we've got all kinds here," Katie told him with a crooked grin. "We've got a couple mutates like my half-brother Pete and his little shadow, and I'm totally human. Oh, and my ex's dad's an android. Literally all kinds of people here."

"O… kay then," Brian said with a little frown. "And you're our guide?"

"Yeah, I've lived here since I was four. I know all the ins and outs," Kate said with her smile still in place.

Brian and Betsy shared a look, though it was clear that both of them looked a little off kilter at all of it. "So, what's a  _normal_ day like in the life of Miss Kate?" Betsy asked.

Kate shrugged. "Well, I'm a student  _and_ I'm on the team here, so it's mostly a lot of classes, homework, team practice, homework — oh, and taking care of my younger siblings. My little brother James is trying to flirt with older girls to throw Kitty off her game. You know. Family stuff."

"Sounds normal then," Betsy said with a grin. "I was told there was the possibility of coaches? I don't suppose you could tell me who I might end up learning from, could you?"

"Well, what are your powers?" Kate asked. "It'll all depend on who has something close to yours."

"Telepath," Betsy replied with a little self conscious shrug.

"Oh! Then you'll probably work with either Charlie or Jean," Kate said brightly. "They're pretty good about listening to you if you tell them who you prefer. Charlie's quieter but a little more intrusive, and Jean is kind of a ball of emotional energy and always flirting with her husband, but she's more powerful and listens better."

"I think we don't need to witness  _more_ flirting," Brian said, giving his sister a significant look.

Kate scrunched her nose up at Brian. "Dude. It's a school fulla teenagers. There is flirting just as much as there is breathing."

"Big brother," Betsy said, gesturing at him. "He won't be happy no matter where I go. You should have seen the colors he turned when I was started modelling."

"I  _thought_ I recognized you," Kate said delightedly. "My Aunt Jan and I are  _huge_ into fashion. She's going to let me intern with her when I graduate."

"Oh, really? Who is your aunt Jan?"

"Janet Van Dyne," Kate said. "I sort of almost got adopted by her husband when I was a kid, so … that was a whole thing." She shrugged with both palms outturned. "I get to visit them every other weekend. The family arrangements with the team are kind of fluid… when I was a kid, there was that whole war with Magneto and everyone was raising everyone under the age of ten? So… everyone's an 'uncle' or 'aunt' at this point."

"You were almost adopted by Tony Stark?" Brian asked, his eyebrows threatening to attack his hairline.

"Had the paperwork drawn up and everything," Kate agreed with a nod.

"What went wrong?"

"I wanted to stick with my Mom, that's all. Nothing went  _wrong;_ she just didn't want to marry him."

"That sounds interesting," Betsy said, taking Kate's arm. "Don't mind my brother. He's interested in all the wrong parts of the story. Tell me about your Auntie Wasp."

Kate grinned. "Oh, I  _love_ her. She's helped all of us junior X-Men pick out ways to customize our uniforms, you know."

"I've only seen her a few times — she has the  _best_ energy at the shows I've worked."

"Yeah, any time I need a pick-me-up, I find her," Kate agreed.

"Between you and me? I'm interested to meet  _everyone_ ," Betsy said. "The X-Men and the Avengers have always been fun to watch."

"Oh, well, you'll love everyone," Kate assured her.

"My brother is just angry with me for choosing to come to the states," Betsy continued quietly - surprisingly in her own head more than the telepaths Kate knew already. "Of course … the opportunities aren't as good for mutants in Europe yet."

"Well, maybe you can help change that," Kate said. "I know a lot of kids who go back home after spending some time here and they want to fix things at home…" As they walked together, Kate took a second to point out the barn on the other end of the yard. "Don't know if you like horses, but my mom teaches riding classes if you're interested."

"Yes, I do like to take a good hack now and again," Betsy agreed. "But … we'll talk later when we don't have hangers-on following our every move, I think."

"You already have fans," Kate teased.

"I honestly meant my brother, but … there may be a few that recognize me, I think."

"Yeah, I noticed you getting a few stares." Kate grinned. "My code name's Hawkeye. I trade on noticing things."

"It's either that or the purple hair," Betsy said. "But I can't really change that." She looked over her shoulder  _past_ her brother. "Who is your admirer?"

Kate looked back and then smirked. "Oh, that's Kurt. He's the sweetest guy on campus."

"Is he now?" Betsy asked. "You'll have to tell me about all of them in descending order of sweetness."

"Oh, that's not fair, because some of them are  _family_ , so my sisters  _have_ to be at the top of the list. Shadowcat and Jubilee."

"That just means you can be more brutal about them," Betsy said ."Take my darling, beloved brother here." She smiled at Brain, who smirked back. "He was angry with me when I started modelling — and now he's angry that I plan to  _leave_ it to go to school here. It's just too far to travel when I'm trying to  _learn_ l, you know."

"Well, you're gorgeous. You can go back to it. You can  _so_ model my stuff when I go into design," Kate assured her, holding onto her arm a little tighter.

"That sounds lovely," Betsy said. "But to be honest … I'd like to be a hero."

"Oh, I hear you," Kate said delightedly. "I don't know what I'd  _do_ without being Hawkeye!"

Betsy was grinning by that time, and Kate managed to give them a solid tour of the grounds and the school, though by the time they reached the barn, Brian cleared his throat. "And where are all the  _teachers_?"

"Staff meeting," Betsy said through a well hidden snicker.

"Team practice," Kate said. "Which is hands down the best part of joining up."

"Are all the teachers on the team?" Brian asked.

"Yeah— oh, but they always leave enough people behind unless it's an all-hands-on-deck situation, so the non-team students never go without. We've had Steve sub for history and Tony for science…"

Brian nodded slowly. "I'm just a bit concerned about all the more dangerous team members."

"Dangerous?" Kate rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease. They're all  _marshmallows_."

"I have trouble believing that," he said.

"Well, who're you worried about?" Kate asked. "Jean hasn't had a Phoenix incident since they adopted Paige and her brothers. She's  _way_ more grounded now."

"What about the fellow with the claws and the one with the lasers?"

"Oh, Scott's more dangerous with the Disappointed Dad face than the optic blasts," Kate said. "I skipped his class and got the 'you have dishonored your family' spiel." She rolled her eyes. "For real."

" _Dishonored your family_?" Betsy said in a tone of pure disbelief. "Over History or Science?"

"Human-mutant relations," Kate corrected him.

"But … you're a  _human_ ," Brian pointed out, frowning.

"I  _know_. That's why I got busted. I mean, one of the only humans walking out of the class about coexistence?" Kate winced. "Whoops."

"But … you live here," Brian said, gesturing around them. "Is your mother a human too, then?"

"My birth mom was, yeah," Kate said. "My mom is K."

Both of them simply stared at her for a moment. "Are you serious?" Brian said.

"Yeah, she rescued me after Magneto ordered a hit on my dad," Kate said.

"That's … kind of amazing," Betsy said.

"Yeah, she's my hero," Kate said. "And my dad? Wolverine?" She gave Brian a significant look. "He's  _the_ sweetheart. I know he looks scary on the news, but that's always in defense of his team. His family. At home, I can sometimes get my way just by going 'please, Daddy?'"

"Sometimes," Betsy laughed.

"Well, there's a lot of us girls. He's starting to get immune, especially when he catches me with boys."

"That can't be fun at all," she said. "I know our parents try to hope for the best in that right. You know… hope it goes away."

"Yeah, that won't happen," Kate laughed.

"How long do we have to wait for the teachers to show up, then?" Brian asked, clearly trying to push the two of them back toward the house. "I can't leave until I speak to whoever it is that's going to be my sister's mentor."

"Well, Charlie's in his office by now," Kate said. "We can start there, and by the time we get done with him, he'll have told Jean to come say hi. This is just how things roll." With that, she grabbed Betsy's arm to pull her along to Charles' office.

"Kate," Charles said, smiling pleasantly at the three of them. "You missed an incredible joint practice, I'm sorry to say."

"Ugh. You're evil sometimes, you know that?" Kate said, drooping with her whole body.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Kate," Charles said, still smiling sedately before he turned to the Braddocks. "Elizabeth, Brian, I trust Kate was on her best behavior?"

"She was," Betsy answered. "And very helpful."

Brian opened his mouth to ask a few questions, but Charles got started on his spiel before he could — and answered every question Brian had been mulling over long before it could be asked. "I believe to start with, since you've shown a reasonable level of control, Elizabeth, that your mentor will be Mrs. Summers." He turned to Brian. "She should be here any moment." He smiled tightly — though it looked perfectly warm. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have to steal a word with Captain Rogers before he leaves. Kate — you'll want to stay until Jean speaks to you."

"Am I  _still_ in trouble?" Kate pouted. "You made me miss joint practice  _and_ run with Scott!"

"The running was Scott's idea," Charles said. "And I didn't make you miss practice, either."

"Ugh.  _Dad_."

"He had to think about it," Charles replied with a shrug. "But if it makes you feel any better, Thomas missed it as well."

"Oooooh, who's  _Thomas_?" Betsy asked, whirling to face Kate.

Kate turned a brilliant red. "My  _ex_."

"For now," Charles said barely loud enough for Kate to catch — just before he slipped out of the door.

"Oooh, I hate when he does that," Kate grumbled.

"It's a sneaky way to get the last word in," Betsy laughed.

"He's just  _like_ that," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "No one believes me when I say that Tommy and I are broken up and it's so  _stupid_."

"I gathered as much," Brian said, chuckling.

"We  _are_ ," Kate insisted.

"Good," Betsy said, taking her side.

Kate gestured to Betsy with one hand. "Besides, considering how much trouble we got it, it's  _so_ for the best."

"What were you doing to get into so much trouble?" Brian asked, looking more concerned.

"Um… skipping class…" Kate said, biting her lip.

"Is that  _all_?" Brian asked.

" _Yes_ ," she said forcefully. "Dad would've killed him otherwise."

"I thought you said he was a teddy bear," Brian replied, crossing his arms.

"He is," Kate said, matching his body language. "But tell me you wouldn't do the same for your sister."

"She said he was a marshmallow," Betsy said. "And you would do the same, but you can relax. I'm sure you can stop looking for reasons to have a fit."

"Who's having a fit now?" Jean asked as she stepped in the room — in her full uniform. "We were running a little late. Sorry about that."

"Dying, Jean.  _Dying_ ," Kate said, tipping her head back.

"Why are you dying today?" Jean asked as she crossed the room and sat on the edge of Charles' desk.

"Because I'm  _still_ in trouble and  _Dad_ kept me out of what was obviously a  _great_ practice."She gestured at Jean. " _Ugh_."

"It really was a good one," Jean agreed. "He and Scott got into a rhythm, and your mom found a solid groove with Steve  _after_ he realized how well your Dad and Scott were doing."

"Leave me here to die, Jean. Just leave me here to die."

Jean was smiling broadly at that. "Well as long as it's not anything dramatic, then," she said, turning to Brian and Betsy with a warm smile. "I'm sorry for all the drama. She can't help it sometimes." She extended her hand to Betsy first as she introduced herself. But of course, Charles had already answered all their questions but one. "Kate, you can take Betsy to her room, seeing as she's your new room mate."

"Wait. What?"

"Your new room mate," Jean said, albeit a little slower that time. "You might be in trouble with your Dad still, but part of doing the upper levels of the school also comes with what all the other kids do - which includes staying in the dorms with the  _other kids_. I thought they told you."

"We talked about it, but I … with all the Tommy nonsense… it wasn't even in my ... oh my gosh you found me a  _purple roommate_?"

"We did," Jean said, smirking at her.

"Awww, at least someone still loves me."

"That was Scott, actually," Jean said. "I wanted to put you with your sisters, but he said that we'd never be able to keep an insurance policy that way."

"I mean, he's not wrong," Kate laughed. "Jubes and I  _did_ blow out the Danger Room last month…"

"And she did it on her own three months ago."

"And I accidentally blew out the control room the month before that with an experimental arrow Clint let me play with…"

"And Kitty phased through the danger room last  _week_  and fried all of it." Jean looked toward Brian and Betsy. "It's a regular issue. So, do you have any other questions?"

Brian held up his hand. "Just one. What is the 'Danger Room'?"

"That's what we call the training room. Don't stress," Kate said.

Betsy leaned over and kissed her brother's cheek. "That's enough. Love you. Have a lovely flight home."

Brian deflated slightly, but when he stood up, he pulled Betsy with him and wrapped her up in a tight hug. "Say the word and I'll come and get you."

"I'll be fine," Betsy promised, and a few moments later, they finally let go of each other and Jean showed him out, promising that he could visit whenever he liked, leaving Betsy and Kate alone. "So. Tell me about the boys here."

"Where to even start?" Kate asked. "Do you want the cute available ones or the ones to avoid?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well, if you're looking for sweet and funny, Miles is where it's at. We dated for a hot second and he's  _so_ funny." Kate tipped her head to the side. "Oh, and I guess Tommy's available now. Super fun, super cute… kinda hard to resist…"

"I do well resisting cute boys," Betsy said with a smirk. "I'm used to them having to chase."

"My problem is I've always wanted to seize what I want?" Kate said with a shrug.

"We'll get along fine then," Betsy said.

"Oh good." Kate took a deep breath. "Now, guys to avoid." She grabbed Betsy's hand and launched into it, more or less taking Betsy through every boy at the school.


	4. Blended Family

The next morning, when Kate got up for her morning run with Scott, Betsy was already awake and sitting on the edge of her bed. "Good morning," Betsy said with a smile.

" _Ugh,_  why are you  _awake_ ," Kate grumbled as she forced herself out of the bed.

"I'm not used to your time zone yet," Betsy said.

"Well, welcome to the evil hour," Kate said, pulling her hair up into a ponytail."I have to go run with Scott now."

"I don't suppose I could get a little tea before the rest of the house?" Betsy said - though she didn't pop up on her feet, even if she was already dressed.

"Oh, sure. And there's coffee. Mom usually gets up and makes it  _right_  around this time."

"Wonderful," Betsy said, smiling at her. "Are you going to survive this run?"

"Oh, definitely not," Kate said, pulling her shoes on. "I hate getting up early. If I'm lucky, Kurt will have some iced coffee with me before I  _die_."

"Kurt is an early bird, too, then?" Betsy asked with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Not really, but he's been up earlier lately," Kate admitted. "I think he's spending a little extra time with Meggan - she's leaving come fall, you know?"

"I don't know that I've met her yet," Betsy said, watching Kate carefully. "But I'll be able to meet this Meggan then, too? She must enjoy the early morning."

"Well, no…" Kate sighed. "I don't know. They're cute together."

"That sounds … interesting," Betsy said. "It seems like if she's not an early riser, they'd be spending more time together at  _night_."

Kate bit her lip. "Yeah. It's just… he's so attentive and sweet with her, so …"

Betsy nodded at that, half holding her breath to see if Kate was going to 'get' it. "Yes, I'm sure he's very in tune with his lady love."

"Yeah. She's lucky."

Betsy closed her eyes and shook her head as Kate changed, but didn't argue it. She had yet to see Kurt in action, after all, but she was already very sure that it would only confirm her suspicions that the young man had a severe crush on her. Of course … she'd only seen him from afar, and most definitely not with any  _girls_. Clearly, Kate was missing something vital. "Lead the way, roomie."

The two of them headed downstairs, where Kate met up with Scott, though Tommy was already running with Logan. Kate blew a kiss Betsy's way before she headed out, leaving Betsy to get her tea together in relative quiet.

Betsy took her time setting the tea, and when she got to the table, she was a little surprised when K didn't even so much as say a word to her as she drank her coffee and read the paper. She frowned to herself when she tried to reach out and see what K was thinking - only to come up against a wall. It wasn't something Betsy was used to, but she also knew better than to press, so she settled in to wake up a bit more thoroughly, feeling the backlash from her travels.

But just when she was sure that Kate was wrong and Kurt wasn't going to show … the fuzzy blue elf sleepily came into the kitchen with his tail nearly dragging behind him on the way through. She watched him as he went through the motions of filtering out the cold brewed coffee that he'd set up the night before, and she glanced at K for just a moment, though again, the woman didn't act like she'd seen anything amiss at all.

Kurt had barely gotten the iced coffee made, and had gotten a cup of  _hot_ coffee for himself before Tommy and Logan came in. And to her amusement, Tommy was carrying someone tall, broad, and blond on his back, too. The blond was smiling and chuckling to himself as Tommy finally dropped him, and as he staggered sideways, the blond reached out to drop a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for the piggy back ride," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen you go so  _slow_."

"Shut up, Teddy," Tommy managed, though he was clearly wiped out. He waited until Logan looked his way and nodded before he took the collar off, dropped his shoulders, then tossed the collar on the table and zipped off with a gust of air following him.

Logan grunted to himself then turned toward the table, zeroing in on Kurt. "Get lost," Logan said, deftly snatching Kurt's cup of coffee before he took a seat next to K and stole a kiss that had the woman smiling up at him.

Kurt blinked at him a few times, a slight frown on his features and his tail was switching behind him, though he still didn't say a word and sleepily made his way over to get another cup for himself. He sat down on K's other side, though  _still_ he didn't say anything, even when K reached over to fluff his curls up with one hand, half cooing to him in German something that had Kurt smiling to himself.

Eventually, Kate came in a short while later, looking totally drained while Scott looked like he was just getting ready to start the day, and Betsy had to laugh when Kate purposefully projected  _stupid long legged man_ to her.

"Oh, yes," Kate breathed out when she saw the pitcher of iced coffee and sat down with it, leaning over to rest her head on Logan's arm tiredly.

"This might be doin' you some good, princess," Logan said in an even rumble.

"Shhh,  _no, Dad_ ," Kate said. "Don't get ideas. This is the  _worst_."

"You could start doing the kata with me," he teased, which she  _knew_ meant a five A.M. wake up call.

"I'm fine with fencing and archery, Daddy," she said.

"Suit yourself," he said before he turned and kissed the top of her head.

Kate smiled and leaned into him a little more. "Besides, fencing is fun, right, Kurt?" she said, tipping her head so she could smile his way.

"The very best fun," Kurt said — with no trace of the grogginess in his voice that Betsy knew had to have been hidden there for as little noise as he'd made. "If you weren't so worn out, you could join me later for a pirate sim … but …"

"Ooh, what time do you have it booked?" Kate asked, picking her head up a bit. "Because if it's at  _normal human time_ …"

"Two thirty," Kurt said with a little smirk.

"Done," Kate said, smiling wider. "I  _so_ need to fight pirates. And I'll kick your butt too."

"You can try," Kurt said. "But I think that's a bit ambitious for a girl that can't even get up in the morning."

"Pirates didn't get up until later anyhow," K said, finally sharing the paper with Logan. "Hangovers."

Kate pointed at her mom. "Exactly."

"Is that what your trouble is, Kate? Have you been sneaking whiskey?" Kurt teased, grinning broadly as his tail swayed playfully behind him.

"If I was, I'd be in even more trouble," Kate pointed out, smirking at him over the top of her coffee.

"So much more," Logan agreed, though it looked as if he was totally focused on the paper - and that had Kate picking up her head to see what exactly her parents were up to.

"Anything interesting?" she asked.

Logan shook his head automatically, though he didn't look away from the paper. "Nope."

"Okay then," Kate said, settling back with her head on his arm. "Just one more week of early mornings. I'm gonna sleep all summer."

"Uh-huh," Logan said. "Except … you're gonna need to help with James."

" _Dad_."

"What?"

"We didn't  _do_ anything. Can I not be in trouble, please?"

"Yeah, I know," Logan said. "This isn't a trouble thing. This is a I might be gone for a little bit thing."

"What, why?" Kate asked with a frown, sitting up a little straighter. It wasn't unheard of for her parents to simply disappear for a while - though hey always seemed to come back more tired than they left - and there was always some kind of major headline in the news that ran concurrently to their disappearance. She hadn't missed  _that_. She was a Hawkeye, after all.

"Nothin' big," Logan said, smirking at her, but that really only sealed it. He wouldn't waste his time with anything  _small._

"Awww, come on, can't I come too?"

"You're grounded," Logan pointed out.

"Not for much longer!" Kate argued. "Please?"

"No way," he said, shaking his head. " _If_ I end up goin', your mom's goin' with me."

"Not a training run, sweetheart," K said. "Sorry, not sorry."

Kate let out a long sigh. "You know I'm an X-Man, right?"

"This isn't an X-Man kinda thing," Logan said off-handedly. "And I wouldn't bring one of them with me."

"Then what — can I help?" Kate asked. "Please?"

"No," both of her parents said at once.

Kate groaned and leaned back in her seat. " _Fine_."

"There's a little good news there," K said. "If you end up doing a mission, or get put on duty, just make sure that Tony  _keeps_ James with him for a while."

"Oh, Tony will  _die_ of happiness," Kate laughed.

"He's already going to have Sophie," K said. "If you're  _really_ good, maaaybe we can just tell him ahead of time. Suspend your grounding …"

" _Please_?" Kate drew a halo over her head.

"Alright, but you have to go with me to talk to him," K said.

"I'll be super good," Kate promised.

K and Logan shared a look, and the two of them nodded. "Get me another cup and I'll let you drive."

Kate was grinning as she got to her feet. "In  _my_ car?"

"Sure," K said. "As long as it's road-worthy."

"Nope. Not yet," Logan said, shaking his head lightly. "Wanna bleed out the brake lines first."

"Okay, then let's take the Jeep, and we'll fix that later," Kate said.

"You gonna grind the transmission again?" Logan asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Give me some credit!" Kate protested. "I'm getting better! I haven't done that in a couple weeks!"

"Fine," Logan said. "But if you keep it up, you're gonna have to help me change the lockers on the Jeep, too."

"Clean up so you don't  _stink,_  then help me out by getting Sophie and James, please," K said. "She was still asleep and he was keeping watch with a book and a comm."

"Yes, Mom," Kate said, already on her best behavior and trying to get un-grounded fast as she went upstairs.

Betsy was quick to follow her, too. "Do they always give you loopholes to get out of trouble?"

"Only when it wasn't  _all_ my fault," Kate said. "Tommy wanted to go too fast and I stopped him, so I get points for holding my ground."

"That's something, at least," she said, then frowned as she turned to Kate. "If I wasn't looking at them, I couldn't tell they were there … telepathically speaking. Is that just … me?"

"Oh, none of the telepaths can read them unless they invite them in," Kate said.

"That's a little disconcerting," Betsy said.

"It's part of their mutation," Kate said with a shrug. "Charlie thinks it's a defense mechanism. I mean, they get hurt bad enough sometimes that anyone else with those injuries would  _die_. There's got to be a mental component to that, according to him."

"Still," she said, shaking her head as they got to the Howlett's suite. "I get to meet your siblings," she teased.

"They're hilarious and you'll love them," Kate promised - which was pretty easily proven when they got inside and Sophie had  _just_ woken up, which meant Kate got to snuggle her baby sister. "Heya, Soph."

Sophie pushed her hair out of her face, even as it stuck up from several different angles. She was stretching sleepily, but as soon as she saw Kate, she bounced right up on her feet. "Hi."

"You want to hang out with my Tony for a while?" Kate asked. "James and Maria can flirt. It'll be fun."

She smirked and blinked her eyes a few times. "Uh-huh."

"You gonna give him a hard time?"

"No-o-o-o," Sophie said, shaking her head. "Just  _snuggles_."

"That's also good," Kate agreed, setting Sophie on her shoulders. "Can you say hi to my friend Betsy?"

Sophie looked over to Betsy and then almost stared at her before she started to lean toward her with her arms out. "Hi!"

Kate grinned as she handed Sophie off. "She's my roommate."

" _Lila_ ," she said, gently touching Betsy's hair, and Kate mouthed 'purple' to Betsy.

"Why are we going to Tony's?" James asked as he pulled a hoodie on over his head and his hair stuck out all over even  _worse_ than it had been doing before.

"Mom and Dad are going to do something; dunno what," Kate said. "But it's  _not_ X-Men business, so…"

"So it's bad."

"Probably."

James let out a sigh and then started to head out ahead of Kate. "Are you stayin' too?"

"No, I'm gonna stay here," Kate said.

James frowned at that. "Why?"

"Well, I want to do stuff with the team," Kate explained. "And Dad's finally ungrounding me, so…"

"Why?"

"Because I'm being on my best behavior," Kate said.

At that, James just started cracking up.

"Hey!"

James was giggling and rushing ahead of her. "You're not  _that_ good."

Kate rolled her eyes as she gestured for Betsy to help her gather the kids' things. "Little brothers."

"Not too different from big ones," Betsy said, though she and Sophie were doing well. "She's the sweetest little girl."

"Right? I'm totally biased since she's my baby sister, and until she came along, I was the youngest sister."

"Is she spoiled or just sweet?" Betsy asked. "I've been accused of being spoiled."

"She's both," Kate decided.

"And mom and dad don't favor her?" Betsy asked.

"What? No." Kate shook her head. "They don't treat us any different from James or Sophie. They're not built that way. Neither are the Summerses, for that matter."

"Even when she's so  _little_?" Betsy teased as Sophie hammed it up.

"You should see my friend Cassie. You wanna talk about little…" Kate teased right back.

"I'm sure I will when the family is out and about," Betsy said as Kate got the last of the stuff that Sophie would need. "And while you're gone with your Mother, I'll investigate the iced coffee situation."

"You'll have to ask Kurt if you can have any. He's the one who made it."

"That's not the situation I'm talking about," Betsy laughed.

"Are you accusing  _me_ of being spoiled?" Kate teased.

"I … haven't been here long enough to form a proper opinion yet."

"Uh-huh," Kate said, tipping her chin up slightly as Sophie giggled.

"Have fun," Betsy said as she set Sophie down and took her hand instead of carrying her - and Sophie pulled her over to show her the little line of stuffed animals she had, though she said all of them were named 'floof'.

"Sophie, you wanna bring some of your floofs to show Jan and Tony?" Kate asked.

"No-o-o-o-o," Sophie laughed. "To-mee is a  _floof_."

"Tommy's not a floof!" Kate laughed.

"Nooooo," Sophie said, stomping one foot. " _Toe-meeee is floooof._ "

"Oooooh," Kate said, nodding seriously. "Yes. Yes he is."

Sophie kissed Kate on the cheek. "You is floooofy sissy!"

"Sure am!"

"Kisses!"

Kate obliged, of course, scooping up her sister and peppering her with kisses before she set her on her hip. "C'mon. My Tony is gonna spoil you rotten."

"He  _myyyy_ Toe-meee," Sophie said, holding Kate's face in both her hands.

"Nuh-uh. My Tony!" Kate said.

"NO! Mine! Gimmie!"

"No way! Mine!" Kate said, giggling as Sophie got more insistent.

Finally, Sophie was completely flustered and she blew her hair out of her face - very much like K did and crossed her arms. "No."

Kate laughed and blew a raspberry in Sophie's cheek. "How bout we share him?"

" _No._ "

"Please?"

She tipped her little chin up and shook her head hard. "NO."

"Well, we have a problem, because he's my Tony too," Kate said. "You gotta  _sha-a-a-a-re_."

Sophie leaned forward until their noses were touching. "You  _mean_."

"Yeah, but I love you anyway," Kate teased, rubbing noses with her.

"Fime," Sophie said - as close to 'fine' as she could get since she still seemed to mix up her 'm's and 'n's consistently.

Kate smiled and snuggled her sister as the girls headed down to meet up with the rest of her family - passing Kurt on the way. "Keep the pirate sim up for me, please?" Kate called out to him. "I might be late depending on how long my Tony wants to chew me out over the breakup."

Sophie let out a fantastic sigh. "No.  _My Toe-meee._ "

"Sorry, kiddo. I've been calling him that since I was four. You got nothin' on me," Kate shot back.

"O-o-o-old."

"I know.  _Sixteen_. I'm  _ancient_."

Sophie nodded her head slowly as the little group got into the kitchen. "If you're ready to go," K said. "I've got the keys."

Kate grinned and held up her hand to catch them. "Everyone's all packed up - floofs included."

"You act like she sleeps anywhere but  _on_ Tony when she's there," K said.

"Jan sends me pictures of the cuddle pile of all the Stark boys, Maria, and Sophie."

"So you know she only uses the teddy bear for a guilt trip, right?" K said.

"She gets that from you, Mom," Kate teased.

"You're not wrong," Logan said as he picked up Sophie to give her a kiss before they left, though the little one curled into him tightly for a long moment.

"She's smart," K said, then kissed Logan before he carried Sophie out to help get the kids settled in as Kate hopped into the driver's seat. She was bouncing one foot and adjusting her sunglasses as the little ones were settled in, though Logan paused and leaned in the open window before she started the Jeep up.

"I'll see you before we take off," Logan told Kate.

Kate leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Okay. Be safe."

"Always," Logan said, then left them to prep for the mission he and K were about to head off into.

The ride to the city wasn't eventful in the least, and K carried Sophie in while James sniffled on the way up, sure to push Kate's hand away when she tried to help him carry up Sophie's things.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm  _fine_ ," James said, sounding irritated and honestly tired of everyone asking. "An' you gotta go find  _Tommy_  anyhow."

"I do  _not_!"

"Uh huh."

"We  _broke up!_ "

"That was  _yesterday_."

"It was  _weeks_ ago."

"Are you sure?"

" _Yes_."

"O-kay," James said, sounding like he didn't buy it at all.

"Seriously. For real this time," Kate insisted.

James was quiet for a minute. "Okay."

And Kate thought that was the end of the teasing right up until they got to Tony and Jan's place - and after the kids were all squared away, Tony gave her such a  _look_.

"What?" she shot his way, one hand on her hip.

"I thought you were over this whole … thing," Tony said. "But you're  _escalating._ "

"What are you talking about? I'm not even grounded anymore!"

Tony raised his eyebrows as he whirled to half-stare at K. "She can't be grounded if I'm not around to enforce," K said reasonably. "And she did shut him down, so … credit earned."

Kate gestured to her mom. " _Thank you_."

"Yeah, but you skipped class to fool around."

"We didn't  _fool around_ , Tony!"

"Then what were you doing?" he asked, arms crossed.

"Just… kissing," Kate said, turning red.

"You skipped class to kiss ... "

"I mean, his pickup line was 'advanced placement human-mutant relations' so like… how could I  _not_?" Kate pointed out.

"That is  _so_ not funny," Tony said, looking dead serious as Jan covered her mouth and turned away from the scene.

"They just  _thought_ they were advanced," K said as she kicked off from the couch she was leaning on and headed for the kids leaving Kate with Tony.

"Tony," Kate said, pushing her lower lip out.

"You can't play the little girl card when you got  _busted_ for screwing around!"

"We didn't —  _I strong-armed him_!"

"What did you  _think_ was gonna happen when you took off with him? I thought everyone was clear with you on what teenage boys are  _like_."

"I wasn't thi— " Kate caught herself. "Tommy knew this was just a thing — for fun — "

"That really doesn't make this any better. You've got your mom halfway backing you up …" he stopped and narrowed his eyes as he stopped himself.

"We broke up, Tony, I swear. For real this time."

"I'm just concerned for you when I know you've learned how to be sneaky about things. That's all."

"Tony, you know Mom and Dad would smell it if I — well, I can't sneak about  _that_." She was positively red-faced at that, though.

"It's the terminology that you're using that's giving me a problem."

"Oh, come on, Tony!"

He let out a sigh. "I'm gonna be watching you," he said, pointing a finger her way. "But first … I need you to tell me what you know about this thing that has us keeping the rugrats for an undetermined amount of time."

"Um, not much. Just that it's not an X-Men thing and Mom and Dad won't let me come."

"Is it a vacation thing?" Tony asked, testing the waters. Until he had dated K, he never noticed how often or how long Logan would disappear randomly. And until he'd picked up Katie at 4 years old — potentially abandoned by K while she had a small panic attack— he'd never cared. But after that … every time K and Logan felt the need to disappear, Tony had made a point to let them know that he wanted Katie with him while they were gone. And when James came along, he was added to the roster as if he'd been one of Tony's. "Little secret soiree maybe … they plan to come back with a new little sibling ..."

"Um, no," Kate said. "I'm pretty sure it's  _trouble_ , not 'trouble'."

Tony frowned at that, but nodded lightly. "Alright. Think you can help me get it out of her?"

"Will it get you to stop spying on my love life?"

"For a minute. At least until I know you're not going to end up getting pregnant with a Maximoff."

"Oh my  _gosh_."

"I just worry because all I hear about is how  _fast_ he is," Tony teased. "Could be over before you know it."

" _Tony_."

"It's a legitimate concern," he defended.

"You can either be mad at me for fooling around  _or_ you can be worried about me not getting  _good_ action!"

"I think I can do both."

"Why, Tony.  _Why_."

He pulled her over to give her a quick hug and a kiss on the temple. "Maybe because you were my first real shot at little kids. And I worry about what your first exposure to your mother and I did to your tiny little brain."

"Awww, Tony." Kate wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you too."

"It's a real concern," he repeated.

"I'm fine, I promise. I got to see you and Jan and Mom and Dad being  _so in love_. That's a good example to live up to, right?"

"Oh sure," he agreed. "It's just the time before we were divided up into the  _right_ couples that has me worried." He smirked and steered her toward where K and Jan were sitting with Sophie - and Maria was clearly trying to direct James on what they were going to do  _first_.

Kate pulled on Tony's arm and then kissed his cheek. "I barely remember when you were with Mom, and what I do remember — the two of you were sweet and in  _love._  If that makes you feel any better. And I love ya. Don't forget it."

"Oh, hey, I may not be the scary dad?" Tony said. "But I  _can_ find a place to hide the body if it comes down to it."

" _Tony_. I'm not even  _dating_ him."

"Oh, sure, sure," he said. "Not this week anyhow."

" _Tony_."

"Hey. You two have been on again off again for your whole lives. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you ended up with him."

Kate blushed deeply. "I'm … I dunno. I hadn't thought about that."

"Well the closer you get to being legally able to do incredibly stupid things, the more you'll realize that stuff like that is possible. I only ask that if you two do lose your minds you at least invite me to the wedding."

"Are you kidding?" Kate shook her head. "You and Dad are  _both_ going to walk me down the aisle when that happens!"

"You do know that your Mom and Dad didn't even tell their  _witnesses_ what was going on until they showed up at the spot they got married, right?"

"Um, no?" Kate blinked up at him for a moment, realizing just then that her Mom and Dad hadn't actually told her the story of what their wedding was like.

"Yeah, it was great. I took Jan, you, and Pete on a cruise. You kids helped me set up my proposal … all to come back and be surprised with everyone  _but_ the grand total of  _four_ people they brought with them to their eloping."

Kate's eyebrows were high on her head before she quickly hugged Tony. "I promise you'll be there."

"Good," Tony said, nodding. "Because for them, it was Cyclops, Cap, Daredevil and some poor priest."

"I've got enough of you and Jan influencing me that I'd want a party, Tony," Kate promised. "Besides, if Tommy and I  _did_ get married, you know Wanda would want to make a thing out of it, right?"

"There  _was_ a party," he said. " _After_. But … you said you broke up and you're talking about a possible party for a possible wedding— "

" _You're_ talking about it!" Kate shot back. "You're the one that brought it up!"

"Yeah, but you're the one that's still got Tommy in the tux."

"Who else would it be?" Kate asked grumpily.

"If you think that's your only choice, you're crazy." Tony made his way over to sit down between K and Jan, and both women shifted so that he had one arm around each.

Kate let out a sigh and shook her head. "I've got time, Tony."

"You sure do," he said, as he settled in with a little smile and smirked just so Sophie would smile up at him and then carefully slip from K to him and snuggle in under his chin. "This is comfortable."

Jan rolled her eyes at him, though this had been the ongoing joke for exactly as long as it took Jan and K both to be comfortable with each other sharing time with the kids and Tony. Sophie entirely stole his attention though, when she sat up and took a hold of his face with both hands to very  _very_ carefully kiss him like only a pre-kindergartener could, thereby freeing Kate up to escape — for the time being anyway.


	5. Totally Different Missions

ogan and K's long-seated habit of combing through the newspaper looking for signs of trouble from old friends and foes alike  _rarely_ paid off - but when it did, it was always something notable, and this time was no exception.

Both of them found the call for help - a sure sign that a fellow ex-spy was pinned down somewhere in deep trouble, paranoid, and in need of backup - and it was a good indicator of exactly how bad it was when both of them recognized the code and the phrasing used. Logan had  _hoped_ it was a CIA tie, but when K had brought the message to his attention, too - it was very clear that this was from a lot shadier people than the CIA.

Of course, the fact remained that Magneto had destroyed Weapon X - and all of the intel at their disposal showed that the program hadn't been restarted under  _anyone's_ budget. Neither the US or Canada wanted to touch it - and it had stayed.  _Down_.

But  _someone_ was sure pulling up those old rosters. And that was more than enough to draw the Howlett's attention. If not for the fact that a revival of a program like that would mean trouble for their little family - which was a direct threat they couldn't ignore - but also because it would mean imminent subjugation for anyone with what could be considered a marketable genetic ability.

But before they raised the alarm and drove the culprits back into hiding - the two of them had decided long ago to try and handle it quietly. Covertly. And hope that their actions didn't encourage anyone to keep pushing for a weapons program again.

There were risks, of course, to doing things at the same dirty level that spy organizations operated, but … that was, they were sure, the best way to tamp down the problem before it got out of hand. So even though they weren't sure - entirely- they chose to follow their gut feelings, kiss their little ones goodbye once they were in competent care, and put on the black suits one more time.

* * *

Even though it was hard to leave her little brother and sister behind, Kate was ultimately glad that she'd opted to stick to the school. Originally, she'd done it because she thought it would be bad form to totally abandon her new roommate before Betsy could get settled in - not to mention she had  _just_ gotten ungrounded, and she wanted to get back on the fun missions.

And it didn't take long at all for her gamble to pay off.

The reports were that there was some kind of superpowered being wreaking havoc in New York City - and although SHIELD had originally wanted to get involved, Steve had talked them into letting the X-Men talk to this unknown first. After everything that had happened during Magneto's war, it seemed the Avengers really were dyed in the wool of the peaceful coexistence dream too.

After all, all the problems with K had happened because a bad guy had taken advantage of someone who was hurt and lashing out. So new beings with powers ? Yeah, it was better to at least  _try_ to talk to them first.

"Oh, look, you  _do_ exist," Kitty teased when Kate climbed into the jet. A lot of the junior squad members were going - Kate and her sisters, plus Kurt, Paige, and Sam - because these "outreach" missions were good training, according to Scott. Of course, if they got there and Scott decided the situation was too rough for them, they'd end up jetsitting.

Or pretending to jetsit.

Kate stuck her tongue out at Kitty and coughed out a word that sounded like "Piotr" that had Jubilee snorting and not even trying to hide it.

"So, what's the story, fearless?" Jubilee asked while Kitty was still glaring at Kate for that little barb.

"So, far, all we know is that this guy knows how to spell four-letter words with a flamethrower," Scott said dryly. "That and the reports say it's some kind of otherworldly tech, so we're thinking it's an alien."

"So … he's advanced in calligraphy," Kitty giggled. "It has to take some talent to write legibly with a flamethrower, don't you think, Katie?"

"Depends on the swear word," Kate said, grinning back at her. "I mean, if you do it in cursive-"

"We're not running down a list of swear words that look good in cursive," Scott said, shaking his head as Charles was the last to arrive - of course in time to hear the back and forth.

"Good," Charles said. "Because it's not debatable as to what the winner would be."

Kate burst out laughing and pointed at Charles. "See?  _Charlie_ knows."

Charles spared her a smile at that and made his way closer to sit as near to Scott as he could. "Have you decided on a plan of attack, Scott?"

"First thing's first - we need to figure out what this guy is angry  _about_ ," Scott said. "Or if it's just rampant destruction. When we get there, if you could reach out, professor, find out what the story is, then the team can either detain him if he's a threat or approach him if he's not."

"So business as usual," Charles said pleasantly.

"Pretty much," Scott agreed.

"Wonder if it's Skrulls," Kate muttered to Kurt. "I mean, Teddy  _did_ have that dust-up last year with the Skrulls wanting him to come 'home' with them… there's got to be a few still sticking around and angry at us, right?"

"We can't worry too much about which alien has issues all the time," Charles said. "Assume if it's Skrulls you're talking about that they aren't happy."

"Well, that's what I'm saying," Kate said reasonably. "This guy's swearing at the world…"

"I'm sure that if it were Skrulls, they wouldn't be creating graffiti." Charles smiled. "Though if they decided to illustrate their displeasure with graffiti rather than outright attacks on the planet, I'd enjoy the shift in tactics."

"Always think positive, Charlie," Kate teased.

Charles smiled a little wider at that, long having given up the idea that he would stop that particular family from calling him Charlie or Chuck. But there wasn't much time to kill before the group saw on the screens mounted in the blackbird exactly what was going on with their angry alien.

"Skrulls  _don't_ have butts like that," Kitty said with a laugh.

Kate giggled and then whistled appreciatively. "And how."

Scott let out a sigh of longsuffering that spoke to exactly how many times this had happened. "Girls…"

"What?" Kitty asked, wide-eyed.

"We know what we see, and we call it like it is," Kate said, her expression similarly innocent.

"You are  _both_ just like your mother," Scott muttered.

"Thank you, Uncle Scooter," both of them sang out in perfect unison.

"I think we can handle this one," Kitty said, nodding to herself. "And I can keep a hand on Kate so if it gets wild, we can just phase out."

"Because I'm a damsel," Kate said, nodding innocently.

"That shall  _not_ be distressed," Kitty agreed.

Kurt leaned forward at that. "Ah, but if a beautiful damsel needs rescuing,  _I_ should be the one to do it," he said.

"Aww, my hero," Kate teased.

"Not yet, but I'll give it my best shot," Kurt laughed.

"You'll have to work hard to keep up," Kate warned him. "I don't play the damsel for anything but serious problems."

"Then I sincerely hope you find no such trouble," Kurt amended.

"Aww." Kate reached over and squeezed his hand across the plane. "See? Already such a hero to me."

Kurt blushed high on his cheeks and at the tips of his ears. "You're always so generous with that word," Kurt said.

"And I'm cute too," Kate said without missing a beat, which had Jubilee snickering  _so hard_.

"Yes, you are," Kurt agreed.

This time, it was Kate's turn to blush as both of her sisters shared significant looks on either side of Kate. Though thankfully for Kate, she didn't have to come up with anything to say while she was still blushing that hard - because the jet touched down and she had the excuse of getting her gear.

"Alright, professor, what's the story here?" Scott asked.

"He … is single handedly declaring war," Charles said - and though his tone was serious, he looked amused. "In his own way."

"I also sign all my war declarations with a  _fu_ -"

"Thank you, Kate," Scott said, cutting her off. "Why's he declaring war?" he asked Charles.

"His first encounter with humans was not … well it was eventful in all the wrong ways."

"So he needs a better welcoming party," Kate said.

"And we're the  _cutest ever_ , soo…" Jubilee blew a big bubble and then gestured to herself as if that was all that needed to be said.

"Right, cutest ever," Scott said. "You can stay in the jet since this isn't a dating opportunity."

"Um, we're the  _welcome wagon,_ fearless," Jubilee said with her hands on her hips.

Scott gave her a dry look. "No kidding. What do you think I'm trying to avoid?"

"He's threatened by our cuteness," Kate whispered to Jubilee.

"I think he's  _afraid_ Wolvie'll blame  _him_ when one of us ends up playing Captain Kirk."

"Especially since that means one of us is going to lose a shirt," Kate said with a wicked grin.

"And with how much we've learned from our parents - well. It could be anyone, really."

"Depends on how welcoming he is to the welcome wagon," Kate said, nodding along.

"You clearly aren't embracing the spirit of our family," Jubilee giggled.

"I was raised a lady proper first," Kate shot back, grinning wider.

"By  _who_?" Kitty challenged.

"Umm, my supervillain dad. But then Tony, so that kinda counts, right?"

"Can you two focus?" Scott said.

It was quiet for a short moment before Jubilee hissed out "You're looking at  _Tony Stark_ as a bar to measure  _modesty_?"

"Oooh, good point. I should have said Jan."

"Too late!" Kitty whispered - and when Scott turned to look at them, all three of them had their hands folded in their laps, bright smiles on their faces and their feet properly on the floor like proper young ladies.

Scott shook his head and decided to ignore the girls - for the moment - before he turned to Charles. "Can you reach out - tell him we just want to talk?"

"Of course," Charles said, closing his eyes to focus on the new mind.

At the telepathic contact, the alien paused.  _Who are you?_

Charles smiled to himself as he introduced himself as he'd done to everyone for decades.  _My name is Charles Xavier, and I'm here to offer you some help. It seems as though you've had a poor introduction to our planet._

 _Your planet is barbaric, and the Kree will raze it,_ was the response - which, as far as threats go, was not terribly creative.

 _Not all of those from our planet are so barbaric,_ Charles said.  _And I'm deeply sorry that you've met the worst of our kind._

 _And what is it that_ you  _come to offer?_ The alien responded, obviously wary.

 _We believe in peaceful coexistence,_ Charles replied.

 _As do I,_ the alien replied.  _Peaceful coexistence under the star of Hala._

 _Then you're Kree_ , Charles responded, sounding pleased to hear it.

_Yes._

_We've had several positive dealings with the Kree, though you do not seen the same as other Kree we've encountered._  Charles turned to Scott for just a moment. "He's Kree."

"We left the Kree on relatively good terms last time," Scott said with a frown.

"What you see on the ground is due to someone mistreating him here," Charles said. "Some lower-tier self-important villain trying to make a name of themselves."

Scott let out a noise that said exactly how annoyed he was about that, even as Charles got a response from the alien:  _I'm not of this dimension. Of course you haven't seen anything like me or my technology. This world is primitive._

 _It's not a criticism,_ Charles told him.  _And we don't want you to feel unwelcome._

_That's a little too late._

_Would you accept the first result in a scientific study without testing further?_

_So you_ are  _capable of more on this planet than using sadism and calling it science._

Even Charles' mental tone sounded insulted.  _Of course we are._

There was a pause before the alien finally said,  _Then I'll speak with you._

 _Thank you._ Charles turned to Scott again. "He'll speak to us."

"Great!" Kate and Jubilee were both up at once, almost racing each other and  _obviously_ competing for the coveted "welcome wagon" spot.

"Ladies, I'm afraid this will require some finesse," Charles said.

"Okay, so give us the skinny and we'll finesse him right into the jet," Kate said without missing a beat.

"Kate, I'm taking the lead on this," Charles said. "You'll have to take a number after  _Scott_ and actually follow his decisions."

"Fine," Kate said, though she and Jubilee were both still giggling to each other - especially once they got closer and they saw how  _very_ form-fitting the Kree's uniform was. Which set off a whole round of giggles and whispers all over again.

The Kree took off his oversized green helmet, and that had the girls grinning again too, because he really was  _cute_ , all styled white hair … and he looked  _their_ age...

"I'm afraid I neglected to ask your name," Charles said to the young man.

"Noh-Varr, of the 18th Kree Diplomatic Gestalt ship  _Marvel_ ," he said, frowning over the group of them. "And you and your… crew?"

"We're the X-Men," Charles said. "Some of them anyhow. We help mutants in trouble and others who have been horribly mistreated. I believe that whoever you had the misfortune of meeting before us qualifies as trouble."

"You seem to be a bit behind and derelict in your duties if you are indeed the authorities on this planet," he said mildly.

"We're not authorities," Charles said. "There are no global authorities in that grand of a spectrum. At least none you'd like to meet. They're a bit stiff. No, we're a private group - and one of only a few on this planet who has managed intergalactic travel. I'd be more than happy to sit down and give you a reasonable rundown of our extraterrestrial encounters."

Noh crossed his arms as he looked them over, the he started to smirk crookedly when he saw the junior team. "Your team is definitely intriguing."

"Some of our trainees," Charles said, smirking at the girls - and Kurt and Sam.

"And you said you deal with matters of mistreatment?" Noh asked - directing the question to Charles, but his gaze was on Jubilee and Kate, who were both clearly tickled by the attention.

"We do," Charles said. "As I understand it, the fool who attacked you will be picked up by the authorities shortly."

"Again, that seems late," Noh said.

"There are a lot of upstarts trying to make a name for themselves," Charles said.

"This one was called Midas," Noh said. "And I'm not the first from outside your world to be caught in his clutches. You'll forgive me for not being impressed that he wasn't taken into custody until I  _caught your attention."_

Charles nodded and tipped his head down, eyes closed as he projected to Agent Coulson, who was waiting nearby who the trouble was. "He is known to SHIELD, and they will deal with him as a prisoner."

"Good," Noh said. "Now, I'd like to be introduced to your team. Is it a requirement for those on your team to be so… well-formed?" He was grinning over every single one of them by that point.

"Yes, yes it is," Jubilee said, even as Kitty elbowed her, almost overlapping her with a resounding 'no'.

"You're not so bad yourself," Kate said, grinning around Kitty.

Noh's grin got even wider at that before he zipped over to Kate faster than they could blink and held out his hand. "And you are?"

"Hawkeye: The Better One," Kate said, blushing pink on her cheeks when she shook his hand.

"The youngest of the three of us sisters," Kitty said before she introduced herself. "Shadowcat. Hi. And our third sister is Jubilee." She pointed past Jubilee. "And those two are Nightcrawler and Cannonball." She leaned toward Kate. " _And just because mom and dad are out of town doesn't get you off the hook to get this new guy killed, Hawkeye._ "

"Can't a girl flirt?" Kate shot back, blinking innocently.

"Oh, sure, but I'm just cautioning you on  _speed_."

"You don't have to worry on my account," Noh said, cluing the girls in that he could hear their whispers.

"Yeah, you don't know our parents," Kitty said. "Trust me, it's a favor to you."

"And you don't know much about me," Noh said. "I'm a genetically-enhanced soldier, not some Terran."

"Oh, okay, well in that case, I'll just step back and let Dad introduce himself."

"C'mon, Kitty. Jubes thinks he's cute too," Kate pointed out.

"Yep. Sure, I just don't like the 'just a terran' part, but you go ahead. Especially considering who our  _parents_ are. So. Have fun," Kitty said, waving a hand.

"Then you must be Jubes," Noh said, turning toward Jubilee and offering her his hand as well. "And you are cute too."

"I am incredibly cute," Jubilee said, nodding slowly as she smirked up at him for a moment - then narrowed her eyes for an instant. "But you're not that interested. So. Welcome to Earth, yadda yadda." She tipped her chin up and blew a bubble.

"Who said I wasn't interested?" Noh asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It's nothin' personal," Jubilee said, shrugging one shoulder up. "I just know when I'm second fiddle and I don't have time for that." She dropped her sunglasses down and sent up a small shower of colorful sparks as she spun on her heel to head back to the jet.

"Don't mind her," Kate said when Noh frowned after her. "Middle sister."

"You mean like you are now?" Kitty said over Kate's shoulder.

"I feel like the gap was big enough between us and the babies that we had our rankings established before James came along," Kate sniffed.

Kitty tipped her head and shook it slowly. "Mmmm…. No. not how it works, right, Uncle Cyclops?" Kitty grinned Scott's way - a clear attempt to let him step in and do the usual offer to come back with them.

Scott shook his head at her, though considering the fact that their "dangerous powered individual" was now flirting with most of his junior squad, he just had to let out a sigh. "You're welcome to come back with us - get a proper introduction to Earth."

"I think I may just," Noh said, looking at Kate and not Scott.

Kate grinned and grabbed him by the crook of the elbow. "Come on. You can tell us all about the Midas touch or whatever on the way over."


	6. Choices

Betsy was taking her tea in the kitchen - like she did every morning - though she was almost done with her morning routine when Kurt teleported into the kitchen in search of a cup of coffee for himself- only to start swearing in German when he found the coffee pot was empty. He grumbled to himself as he made a fresh pot, his tail twitching behind him, since he honestly hated the idea of making a fresh pot this late in the morning. At least … he hated it with the way the mornings had been going lately. But he did it anyhow, and as soon as there was enough to pour himself a mug, he did so and then made his way over to sit with Betsy as he nursed his coffee and nibbled at some fruit - his tail twitching just like an angry cat the whole time.

He had barely started to settle in when Kate and her newest obsession came through, and Kurt narrowed his eyes at her sing-song 'thank you!' about the fresh pot of coffee. Not because he wouldn't have done so for her anyhow, but because the little alien she was hanging out with was reaping the benefits. And to top it off, Meggan had left just yesterday to get settled in to her new school overseas. Which might even have been tolerable if Logan hadn't been gone too.

 _No, you wouldn't be better off if you'd gone with Meggan,_ Betsy projected to him suddenly, breaking into his thoughts.

 _You don't know that_ , Kurt replied.

Betsy sighed.  _Why did the two of you break up?_

Kurt let out a derisive sound but refused to answer her question, instead letting his tail do the talking for him as it switched back and forth, the very tip of it flicking at the end of every swish.

_Did she know you were in love with Kate?_

_It was lovely talking to you, Elizabeth,_  Kurt projected back to her, clearly not in the mood to discuss  _anything_.

Betsy shook her head at that.  _Kate doesn't know you broke up with her._

 _Kate has other interests,_ Kurt replied.  _So it doesn't matter what she knows and what she doesn't._

 _It does,_ Betsy told him.  _Because when I asked her about you when I first got here, she said you were taken. And she was disappointed about it._

He actually snorted at that, shaking his head as he turned back to his coffee.

 _Listen, it was one thing when you two were just circling each other, but I actually like you both, and I'm telling you - you both like each other and you're acting like idiots. She's dating around to make you jealous, and you're too subtle to give her a clue you're even_ available!

"I tried," Kurt said.

"Try again," Betsy said. "With actual words." She tipped her head toward Kate and Noh and added,  _Besides, that isn't going to last. He's still interested in Jubilee ever since she gave him the cold shoulder. But, again, the running theme here is that those two seem to_ need  _affection and take it from wherever they get it if their first choice won't play._

_Then I can't do anything._

_Of course you can. Tell her you'd like to go out with her._

_I doubt I'll get the chance._

_If you get a shot at talking to her alone, please try it,_ Betsy said.  _For everyone's sakes._

"I hope you enjoy your tea,  _Miss Braddock_ ," Kurt said as he got up, though he left the coffee cup right where it was before he disappeared in a swirl of brimstone, clearly done with the conversation - and not in the mood to stick around and risk talking to Kate and Noh.

"He doesn't usually 'Miss Braddock' you," Kate said as she sat down by Betsy. "What's up with that?"

"He's in a mood," Betsy said. "I also got 'Elizabeth' earlier." She smiled.  _But you wouldn't have heard that._

_You must have really made him mad. I've only gotten one 'Katherine' in my life, and it was when I considered getting back together with that guy I told you about - the one that yelled every time I screwed up?_

_I had the audacity of telling him that he was right not to follow Meggan overseas. Even though he broke up with her._

_So they decided not to go long-distance?_ Kate frowned.

_They broke up before the move. Long before the move._

Kate sat up a little straighter.  _Wait, seriously?_

_Yes. They weren't together when I met them._

_This whole time I thought…._

_You didn't ask him why they weren't dating or doing anything together then?_

_I was kind of grounded and had to clean out the barn?_

_So you failed to notice … anything?_

_Well, he… we used to flirt all the time, and then we sort of …_

_So … what changed?_

_It sounds stupid, but when we both were old enough to date, we didn't want to date_ each other  _when it was all 'just for fun' and..._

Betsy gave her a significant look.  _You're so wrong._

_Um, I'm so right. He dated lots of cute girls too._

_Wrong. Were you ever available at the same time? Ever?_

_Well, no… I guess we always meant to get around to it, but it never really..._

_You might just miss your chance._

Kate bit her lip and looked toward Noh, who was pointedly minding his own business, since he could tell the girls were talking telepathically, and then she looked back to Betsy. "You don't suppose you could cheat and tell me where…"

"He 'Miss Braddock'-ed me." Betsy smiled. "I don't know if I should."

"Then if not for him - for me?" Kate asked, her hands clasped underneath her chin

Betsy smirked and closed her eyes for a moment.  _He's on the roof._

 _Thanks_. Kate got to her feet and waved at Noh. "See you 'round," she called over her shoulder, leaving Noh rather bemused.

"I feel like I've been dismissed," he said, though he didn't seem too put out and was smirking quietly.

"You've had a wild welcome to our home," Betsy said, lifting her teacup.

"I have." He paused. "I hope you didn't tell her to leave?"

"No, I didn't," Betsy said. "She was looking for someone and asked me to find them." She waved a hand. "The trouble with being a telepath. Everyone wants you to help them find someone."

"Sounds dreadful," Noh said with a smirk as he refilled his coffee.

"It's amusing most of the time," Betsy said.

"I don't suppose you'd tell me who she went to find?" Noh asked.

"She wanted to speak with Kurt," Betsy said. "He was in a foul mood."

"Ah, say no more." Noh held up a hand. "I know the look he was wearing."

Betsy smiled at that. "Do you now?"

"I wore it myself once. I'm not  _usually_ jealous, but when your betrothed goes out of her way to get married on another planet… thank goodness that species only lives a year in Kree terms…"

"That sounds dreadful," Betsy said, frowning at him, though she had to ask. "And … is that something that continued on? The trouble with the  _fiance_?"

"No, we didn't serve together long before she died," Noh admitted, frowning and narrowing his eyes. "Midas killed my crew - she died with them. Kate is interesting, but I'm still coming to terms - I won't stop her from a more fulfilling relationship with someone who is ready for it."

"That's a very mature outlook," Betsy decided.

"No, it's a very Kree outlook. Getting emotional about all of what's happened in the last three weeks - well, I  _did_ get a bit emotional, to be honest, and I didn't do myself proud attacking the city… I'm trying to be more true to what I've known."

Of course, his attention faltered when, about that time, Jubilee came bouncing in, her sunglasses on the tip of her nose and her headphones in as she danced into the pantry and pulled out the massive box of Sugar Bombs. She poured herself a bowl and paused long enough to see the table was occupied and then spun on her toes to head outside. "How do you even  _wake up_ with  _tea_ , Psylocke? Jeeeeez," Jubilee called out, though she didn't give Betsy the chance to reply before she slipped out of the kitchen door. Not that she would have heard anything but a psychic projection  _anyhow_.

Noh watched her for a second longer and then cleared his throat. "I don't suppose you could tell me where I went wrong with her?"

"With Jubilee?" Betsy asked, honestly surprised. "She's just …  _very_ competitive. And as I understand it  _from more than just Kate_ \- she grew up in the middle. Kitty always got to do everything first, and Kate was the little one that had chosen their mother first. She always felt she was just … there. So she doesn't really  _do_ second place." Betsy leaned forward. "It really doesn't help that Kitty tries to take after their father so hard and Kate relates better to their mother."

Noh frowned and nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not entirely sure how I contributed to that, but I'm sorry to hear it."

"She isn't holding anything against you," Betsy clarified. "She just … doesn't think there's any reason to consider anything in this equation."

"Hmm." Noh nodded again and then got to his feet. "Well, thank you for shedding some light on the interpersonal politics here. I'm sure I'll understand them all soon."

"She  _adores_ her little brother, though," Betsy said.

"James? Yes, I saw his picture when Kate insisted on introducing me to everyone. I haven't really had time to meet everyone personally… Professor Xavier has been talking with me, and I've only really been able to spend a few hours with my ship and some time with Kate…"

"He's not here right now anyhow," Betsy said. "James and Sophia are staying with a family friend until their parents return."

"I'm interested to meet their parents," Noh admitted. "Kate said they heal - that's something my people had to do artificially. They must be well-advanced."

"They would never agree with that, I don't think," Betsy said with a little smile - thinking of the short memories that Jubilee had shown her of the pair of them in action. "But I believe that most of the world's governments consider the two of them to be the most dangerous mutants on the planet." She smiled. "Fair warning. The girls downplay that. No one else does."

"Good to know," Noh said, then smiled at her. "You've been most helpful, thank you."

"My pleasure," Betsy replied.

* * *

Kurt was sitting - no,  _perched -_ at the edge of the roof, his arms crossed and his tail swaying as he looked out over the grounds, lost in thought. Apparently  _so_ lost in thought that when Kate broke the silence with a quiet "hey," he startled enough to fall right off the roof.

" _Scheiße_ ," Kurt half-whispered as he fell out of sight - and Kate rushed to the edge of the roof in time to hear the muted double  _bamf._ She saw the cloud somewhere around the second story of the building - just as some of the smoke began to dissipate from the second cloud where Kurt had reappeared close by on the roof. " _What are you doing?"_ Kurt half demanded - still ruffled and shocked at being snuck up on. His eyes were wider than usual, and his hair was sticking up funny - not just on his head either. Some of his fur had gotten ruffled too.

"I just came to  _talk_ to you!" Kate defended, her own eyes wide. "You're the one who decided to fall off the roof!"

"I did  _not_ decide to  _fall off the roof_ ," Kurt shot back, looking insulted at the insinuation. He tipped his chin up and started to straighten himself up- though his tail was still swishing irritatedly.

"Sure looked like it to me," Kate pointed out.

"Then perhaps you need your Hawkeyes checked," Kurt said before he settled in to lean against the railing. "What did you want to talk about?"

Kate bit her lip. She'd been hoping this conversation would have started off at least a  _little_ better, since, well, Kurt was clearly annoyed, and that wasn't the best place to work from. "I guess I do need my eyes checked," she said at last, shrugging up nearly to her shoulders. "I had to find out from  _Betsy_ that you and Meggan broke up."

Kurt paused at that. "It's old news, Kate. And if her letters are anything to go by, she's already got someone new to be interested in."

"You okay?" Kate asked, making her way over to lean against the railing with him.

"I'm fine," he replied, much more quietly than she was used to hearing from him.

Kate nodded, chewing her lower lip as she thought over what she could  _possibly_ say. "It's just… I didn't know… and I thought maybe…" She let the sentence hang. "It's just that I didn't even know you were  _single_ ," she blurted out, then blushed brilliantly red.

"What difference would that have made?" Kurt asked.

"A really big difference, actually!" Kate said, throwing both hands up. But when Kurt looked like he was just waiting for an explanation, Kate let out a frustrated sound and simply grabbed his shirt and kissed him.

"Katherine, what has gotten into you?" Kurt teased, just to see what her reaction would be.

"Oh my gosh, you can't 'Katherine' me!" Kate said, turning nearly purple with her blush.

But at that, Kurt was grinning widely. "I think I like it, though. It's a very pretty name." He reached up to brush the hair behind her ear. "And you turn such lovely colors."

Kate looked like she clearly had no idea what to do with that reaction, though she was smiling despite herself. "You're such a flirt," she decided at last.

"Only to those that I find beautiful."

Kate bit her lip and then decided she couldn't figure out how to flirt back and measure up, so she just kissed him again. "I'm just … kinda mad at you for not  _telling_ me I could have been doing this  _ages_ ago."

"I thought that it was common knowledge," Kurt said. "Both that I was interested and you are  _quite_ beautiful."

"Um, no?" Kate looked at him like he was crazy.

"Kate," Kurt said more seriously. "I've been flirting with you for …  _ever_."

"Yeah, I mean, I know  _that_ ," Kate said, still blushing.

"You don't think I was doing that just to  _do it,_ do you?"

"Well, when you say it like that, it makes it sound like… I mean, we've been flirting since we were  _kids_ and I just kind of…"

"Overlooked the fuzzy blue elf?" Kurt said looking more shy. "Or simply was not interested. I know it's hard for many to get past the color. Not to mention the fur and the tail …"

"No, it's not  _that_ ," Kate said quickly. "I've always thought you were cute, really!" She reached up to tweak the end of one of his ears. "I just kind of figured maybe, I mean, we'd been flirting our whole  _lives_ and I kinda wanted to try something else just to  _try_ it. And then you were so wrapped up, and it never, I mean…"

"So you didn't  _want_ to be interested?" Kurt asked.

"No!" Kate's eyes were wide. "I'm really, really bad at this, okay? I just … I just thought … I mean, my first boyfriend was when we were, like, eleven, so it wasn't like we were playing for keeps and I just wanted to  _date_ and you were always so, I mean - and then when I  _did_ want to play for keeps, you were - so I just-" Kate was clearly floundering by that point, so Kurt cut her off with a kiss that didn't end until she had relaxed. Significantly.

"Would you like to go out to dinner, Katherine?"

Kate nodded wordlessly, still obviously flustered but also not taking her eyes off of his. "Mmhmm."

"Are you free to go tomorrow night? Or do you need to wait and get permission from your parents?" Kurt smiled a little wider. "I"m afraid I don't understand how it works when you get grounded and then they immediately disappear for who knows how long."

Kate laughed and shook her head. "No, they let me off the hook as long as I promised to be good while they were gone," she admitted.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at that. "And have you been good?"

"I'm  _always_ good," Kate said, drawing a halo over her head. She paused, smiled more crookedly, and added, "And anyway, if I get in trouble for going out with you, it'd  _totally_ be worth it. So there."

"So … are you free then? Or would you prefer a double date with someone instead - just to keep you on the straight and narrow, of course."

"Should I be worried about your intentions, Kurt?" she shot back with a teasing smile. "Because I'm free tomorrow night, but if you think you're going to get me grounded…"

"I wouldn't do a thing to get you grounded," Kurt said, sounding scandalized before he broke into a devilish grin. "Not on the first date, anyhow."

"Oh, right, I forgot you're half-demon," Kate teased, though she kissed him anyway.

"You were likely looking for a way to up your troublemaking anyhow," Kurt said diplomatically. "Get you out of the minor leagues."

"What, me? I don't know what you're talking about," Kate said, grinning steadily wider. "My parents can't even  _get_ heart attacks. I  _always_ play in the major leagues to get in trouble."

"I'm sure they can - they simply won't be likely to  _die_ from them." Kurt offered her his hand. "And besides. Your parents  _love me._ "

"This is true," Kate agreed as she laced her fingers through his.

"We probably have  _work_ to be done, yes?" Kurt asked, though he didn't wait for a response before he pulled her a little closer and teleported them off the roof to find some trouble to cause.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jubilee was enjoying her morning like she did  _most_ days. She'd found a good sun-soaked spot outside of the kitchen and had put her headphones in - music cranked up as her foot bounced and she leaned back with her cereal, plotting out her day. Which … if she could manage it would mean avoiding Scott for as long as possible and sunbathing instead of doing whatever  _drills_ he would undoubtedly come up with.

It  _was_ summer, after all. And any self respecting ex-Beverly Hills kid in the world would strive to spend as much time of her summer laying out and swimming as was humanly possible. She'd just finished up her cereal when she slipped off her flip-flops and broke out the sunscreen. She had to wait at  _least_ an hour before swimming, right? So … what better way to deal than to just … tan.

"Do you mind if I join you?" When Jubilee peeked up, their new alien friend was standing there with a smile.

"Free country, dude."

"And that relates to my question because…"

"I just meant that you can if you want to," Jubilee said, half-frowning at him over the top of her sunglasses before she pushed them back up her nose.

"Then I will," Noh decided, making himself comfortable lying in the grass beside her with his hands behind his head.

"Did you get breakfast?" Jubilee asked after a while. "Because if you're eating the junk they say is good for you in there, you are missing out."

"Yes, I ate," Noh said. "But if you have a different suggestion, I'm open to it."

"Sugar Bombs," she said. "Breakfast. Snacks. Dinner if I don't like what everyone is having." She started to unwrap a big piece of gum. "Or … bubblegum." She paused and watched him for a moment before handing him a piece too. "You just chew it and blow bubbles. Don't swallow it."

"Thank you for the warning. I would have eaten it otherwise," Noh said with a smirk before he popped the piece in his mouth. "It's a pleasant taste."

"Yeah, just … takes a minnit to …" Jubilee was making a point of pulling her hair back out of her face before she started to blow a bubble. "Do that."

Noh raised an eyebrow and then scooted closer to watch her blow a bubble again before he mimicked her. He kept laughing at every failed attempt and every bubble she blew until, still grinning, he said, "Is that the only exercise your tongue gets?"

Jubilee stopped cold for a second and blushed slightly - just high on her cheeks, though it wasn't very visible for the tan she was getting. "Yes. But no one is better, so. Ha."

"That's a shame," Noh said, still grinning.

"Well. No qualified candidates for anything else, you know how it is."

"I don't, actually," Noh said. "It sounds terrible."

"Why am I not surprised," Jubilee said under her breath. "It's not too bad. Get to focus more on being awesome than getting wrapped up in bubble-headed idiots."

"Oh, is that what you think of me?" Noh teased.

"I don't know you well enough to decide," Jubilee said loftily as she finished up her sunscreen.

"Fair enough," Noh said, shrugging lightly.

"Are you going to stick around a little?" she asked. "I was going to go swimming in a while, but I need to  _wait_." At that, she slipped her over shirt off so she could lay out for a little while in her yellow and pink polka dotted bikini.

"Why wait?" Noh asked. "We could go swimming now."

"Dude. I just ate. Old wives tale or not, I gotta wait an hour or the Summerses would be all over me if I did anything so far out of line. Besides … the sun feels good, don't you think?"

"I suppose," Noh said, though he was still trying to figure out what old wives had to do with swimming. "I think I'm just not following your logic."

"Well … okay. What are you getting lost on?" Jubilee asked.

"Why are old wives telling you not to swim for an hour?"

Jubilee blinked at him a couple of times and then started to laugh outright. "Right. Okay. So … human tradition is that you wait an hour after you eat so you don't get stomach cramps while you swim -  _and possibly drown_." At the last part she held her hands up and wiggled her fingers as if she was telling a ghost story. "It's probably crap, but it's also an excuse to lay in the sun beforehand, so I'm not really complaining."

"Ah," Noh said, nodding his understanding before he lay back on the grass. "Then maybe you could tell me more about yourself while we wait," he suggested. "And I could tell you whatever you want to know about me. You  _did_ say we hardly know each other."

"O-kay," Jubilee said slowly. "But … aren't you like … getting all your sensitive info from my sister?"

Noh smirked and shook his head. "She likes to flirt."

"Who doesn't," Jubilee deadpanned.

"I think it's a universal language," Noh agreed. "One I'm fairly certain I've been dismissed from, if I'm reading the unspoken body language correctly. I might not be, admittedly."

"Ah. And you need some company in the meantime. Gotcha," Jubilee said, nodding to herself. "Um. Okay, but … I'm sure Kate already told you the most important stuff. We three girls were adopted … and here we are." She propped herself up on one elbow to adjust her MP3 player - and offered him a headphone. "Your turn."

Noh's smile widened when he put the headphone in. "I'm sure you already know the basics too. I was shot down, the only survivor, and now I'm stranded here… in this universe with  _amazing_ music. What is this?" he said, getting distracted by the beat.

"Little bit of everything on mine," Jubilee said, sliding the MP3 player to him. "It lists the songs and artists if you want to know who and what it is."

"Lovely, thank you," Noh said, grinning steadily wider as he looked over the MP3 player. "You know, I bet I could get this into my ship's mainframe, if you'd like to join me after you're done swimming. I need to get some work done on her anyway, but I'd love to have music too…"

"Oh, well if you need help fixing it, you'd do well to ask Hank or like … Stark or someone. I've got dyscalculia, so anything to do with numbers of any kind … not my jam. I'm not very tech savvy either, so I doubt I'd be any use ...You're welcome to the MP3 player though."

Noh blinked and then shook his head with a smile. "I can manage on my own with my ship. It's a bit more advanced than your scientists anyway. I was asking for your  _company_ , not your help."

Jubilee propped herself up again to watch him. "Are you sure you've got the right sister?"

"Yes, of course," Noh said as if the question was ridiculous.

"I just mean … you were interested in  _her_ ," Jubilee said slowly. "What happened?"

Noh shrugged lightly. "I find everyone on your team remarkably attractive, particularly you and Kate. Of course I was going to reciprocate when she flirted with me. I'm not  _blind_. I would do the same should you or that incredibly attractive Jamie decide to flirt."

Jubilee watched him for a moment, then nodded once, very slowly. "Oh, okay. I get it now. It's just that humans are usually a little more um … selective in who we flirt with, but okay. Whatever works for you, dude."

"I  _am_ an explorer," Noh said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, I'm not judging, I get it! That's fine. You gotta do whatever works for you. That makes sense, Captain Kirk."

"You're not terribly comfortable," Noh surmised.

"I'm  _okay_ ," Jubilee promised, her shoulders relaxing, and her tone made it clear that she had resigned herself to something. "It's nothing to do with you, really. I promise." She nodded a few more times. "But sure. If you want company, I can keep you company. That's fine."

"I'd like that very much," Noh said, watching her with his head tipped to the side. "Though I can't help feeling I've somehow managed to ensure you won't be interested in me when the opposite was my intention."

"I … okay. You're a little confusing, buddy," Jubilee said. "But I guess maybe I'm just a little slower to get involved or make a call when I know for a fact that literally  _anyone_ would fill the bill, so just … let's see if you even  _like_ me and if I like you before we get overly involved or like … call time of death on .. whatever."

Noh chuckled and nodded at that. "That's fair," he agreed. "Nothing too premature."


	7. No One Wants A Good Mystery

While things had been moving forward at the Institute while Logan and K were gone, things felt as if they were stuck in one place at the tower. At least as far as James was concerned.

True, he'd been fighting a little cold, and sure, Maria had been making sure that he hadn't missed out on anything going on in the tower, but .. he wanted to know what was taking his parents so  _long._  It wasn't that time with the Stark family wasn't fun - it was. He just … had enough. Especially since Sophia was getting tired of their usual hustle and bustle and had taken to just … cuddling on Tony or Jan or James.

Which meant it was just a matter of time before Tony started  _looking_. It wasn't the first time James' parents had gone missing for 'too long'. It wasn't even the first time this had happened without them reaching out. But those other times had amounted to them being stranded somewhere ridiculous and well away from civilization, simply needing a pick up. This time... it felt different, and watching Tony, James was pretty sure he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"It wouldn't hurt to just  _check_ , right?" Tony said out of the clear blue to Jan, who let her shoulders drop as she turned his way.

"How long have they been out of contact?" she asked.

"Only the whole time."

"And how long did they  _say_ the mission was supposed to last?"

Tony hedged. "Give them  _time_ , Tony. They haven't been gone long beyond what K considers normal parameters yet - and you know it."

"Yeah, but you didn't see the way she got things done, sweetheart," Tony said. "She'd finish her mission in record time so she'd have time to-" He stopped and let out a heavy sigh. "I suppose that's what she might be up to."

"I'd say that's a safe bet, knowing those two," Jan said, shaking her head before she leaned in to steal a kiss. "They're the two most dangerous mutants on the planet. Give them a little credit."

"And yet, both of them have been controlled and held captive for long periods of time. I'm not paranoid if I'm right."

"No. But  _only_ if you're right," Jan said. "And you know if you interrupt them while they're relaxing  _again_ , Logan will  _flay you._ "

"Also true," Tony conceded, the corner of his mouth drawing tighter as he considered it. "One more day."

"Five."

"Are we negotiating?"

"Yes." Jan pulled Sophia closer and half hid behind her.

He paused. "That's not fair. You can't use the  _kid._ "

"Sophia needs a snuggle, Tony," Jan giggled. "And you know she likes your snuggles best."

"Of course she does," he said, tipping his chin up.

"Five days."

Tony narrowed his eyes and reached over to scoop Sophia up - and she attached to him tightly. "Three," he said. "Soph needs mom, don'tcha, Soph?"

"Mmmhmm," she agreed, curling into him tighter - and that on it's own was enough to get Jan to lose some of her grin.

"Yeah, okay. When you put it like that. Three days," she said, nodding. "And I'll help if they're in trouble."

"Why don't you ask Uncle Scott?" James chimed in. "He's good at figuring out when Mom and Dad need help, you know."

Tony made a face, almost cringing as he turned toward James. "It's pretty easy for me to find them too, kiddo."

"Is it 'cause of the metal?" James asked.

"Yeah. It is, bud," Tony agreed, frowning as James made his way over to snuggle up.

The little guy's head had been pounding and he was exhausted from how hard it was to breathe from time to time. But their cozy little snuggle-fest didn't last  _too_ long. Not with the older Stark boys coming in from their shenanigans, anyhow.

"Hey Dad," Howard called out as he dropped his bag at the front door. The two of them had been 'helping' Peter with his webshooters - though by the amount of webbing the two of them were wearing, it was pretty clear that it had either become a webbing fight, or Peter had gotten tired of the two of them trying to one-up each other and he'd webbed them together in another 'sharing is caring' web. Howard vaulted over the back of the couch to get comfortable, and Steven slid up on James' other side and put his arm around James' shoulders.

"Are you still here?" Steven asked, grinning crookedly. "I thought you'd be home by now."

"He's going to say that every time he sees you now," Howard said. "Ignore him. He's not as funny as he thinks he is."

"I'm just saying … it's been a few weeks, right? And even though I  _love_ our almost baby sister," Steven said, reaching over to tap Sophie on the nose, " _and_ our nearly baby brother-" which .. had James rolling his eyes. "I don't remember them staying this long."

Tony turned to Jan with the most pronounced 'I told you so' look on his face and Jan held her bottom lip between her teeth for just a moment before she stepped over. "Why don't you get those webs cleaned up?" Jan suggested, shooing both of her boys out of the room.

The instant James tipped his chin down, Jan paused and frowned as she watched the little guy. "I'm calling Scott," Jan promised. "Just … relax. We've got this."

"Okay," James said, and Tony patted his shoulder before he headed the other direction with a very sleepy Sophie to put her to sleep for a nap. Which left James alone just long enough for Maria to come over and carefully sit down next to him - being conscious of her dress sitting across her knees - something she  _only_ did when she was overthinking. Any other time, she wouldn't pay attention unless her mom scolded her to be more ladylike.

"Are you worried?" Maria asked quietly.

"I don't know," James replied as honestly as he could. It wasn't that he was  _scared_  exactly. He just … didn't like it when his parents disappeared without him and Sophie at  _least_. Especially since Kitty, Jubes, and Katie had been doing everything they could to avoid extended family time in favor of team runs.

"Are my brothers being jerks? Because I can punch 'em where they don't wanna be punched."

"No, they're okay," James said, turning her way. "I guess … I just want to go  _home_."

Maria's smile slipped just a bit before she scooted closer and wrapped James up in a hug. "Next time, we'll sleep over with  _you_ ," she said, and when James wrapped her up tightly too, she broke out into a wide grin that James didn't see.

The two of them had started up some cartoons - sharing a blanket as they laid on the carpet with their feet kicked up behind them - when Jan came back into the room looking a little stressed. "James, Scott said he hadn't heard anything about your parents yet, but he wants you to come home for a few days anyhow."

James frowned, and Maria openly pouted. "Why?" They both asked - though with entirely different intonations.

Jan smiled and sat down cross legged next to them. "Well … it's awfully close to Nate's birthday and he wants you there for the party," she pointed out, but that had Maria pouting worse.

"Do  _I_ get to go to that too?" she asked, batting her eyelashes before she fixed her mother with an open, wide-eyed look that was obviously straight out of her father's playbook.

"Yes, I'm sure you can," Jan said. "But that's a few days away and Jean said that James'  _sisters_ needed someone to remind them to behave." She smiled warmly at James. "I guess that's you."

"No, I'm just the  _brother_ ," James said sounding like it wasn't a good thing.

"Exactly. And you get to make sure she doesn't get too carried away," Jan said as she offered him her hand - and though James didn't look like he believed he could do  _anything_ to keep his sisters from doing anything dumb, he let her lead him off to get himself together for what looked to be even now, a temporary trip home.

* * *

"Who are  _you_?" James asked, his eyes narrowed as he looked Noh-Varr over. The Starks had just brought him home to Westchester, and though Noh hadn't made any real headway with his attempts to get to know Jubilee more intimately, she also wasn't able to see everything Noh did and when James had walked into the room, Noh was discreetly smelling Jubilee's hair.  _That_ was something James had seen a  _million_ times with his parents. He  _knew_ what that looked like.

"Hey mini-Wolvie," Jubilee sang out with a grin, even as James wrinkled his nose past her at Noh. Jubilee followed his sight line then broke into a laugh. "Oh my  _God_ , you're so much like Dad sometimes."

"Who's the weirdo smelling your hair?" James asked, but that only had Jubilee blushing brightly as she turned to face Noh, her eyes narrowed as she took him in.

"This is Noh-Varr," Jubilee said as she turned back to James, doing her best to ignore the way  _she_ was blushing, made all the more difficult when Noh seemed absolutely fascinated by her blush. "He's a Kree explorer from another dimension. We rescued him, and for now he's staying here."

"Does Mom and Dad know about him?" James asked as he took a seat at the kitchen table with Tony and Sophia.

"No … we picked him up after they left on their ' _mission_ '." Jubilee held her hands up in air quotes as she looked at Tony. "Hey Uncle Tony."

"So you think their mission was a private entertainment matter?" Tony asked. "Because if they're angling for another one, all they had to do was say so and they can stay gone until they get the job done."

Jubilee shrugged as James gave Tony a  _look_. "I mean … they're like, totally older than dirt? So … you know … if they want to stop, they so can."

"How old is your boyfriend?" James asked, which had Tony smirking  _hard._

"He's not my boyfriend," Jubilee said quickly.

"He wants to be," James said, turning toward Noh. "Why do you want to kiss my sister? She's  _my sister._  And you're pretty  _goofy_."

"Your sister very attractive," Noh said, almost blinking at the little boy.

"That's  _all_? James challenged. "She's  _pretty_? If that's all, you better start running 'cause my mom will kick the  _snot_ out of you if that's all you think."

"Hey!" Jubilee said, stepping in front of Noh, unconsciously blocking him. "Mom and Dad haven't even  _met_ him. And we're  _not_ dating so just … stop worrying about stuff, okay?"

"Fine," James said, sliding out of his chair to leave the kitchen, even when Jubilee tried to stop him with the intention of hugging him. Of course, she caught him up easily enough and kissed his cheek as he squirmed and tried to get loose of her. "You're just as bad as Kate and  _Tommy_."

"Hey, wait," Jubilee said, crouching down so the two of them were nose to nose - and still close together. "Kate is  _not_ with Tommy, got it?" She leaned closer so their foreheads were touching. "She's dating  _Kurt_ now."

James blinked at her a few times and warily glanced over at Noh. "Oh. Okay."

"You're not going to give Kurt a hard time?"

"I like Kurt."

"Well … maybe Noh is someone you'd like too," Jubilee said.

"I don't think so," James replied, shaking his head before he pulled away from her and headed for the stairs - more than ready to get to his room and his  _bed_.

" _James!_ " Jubilee shouted, stomping her foot as he zipped away. "Little brat," she mumbled under her breath as Noh came up behind her.

"Did I do something to offend him?" Noh asked.

"No, he's just being a little brother," Jubilee said.

"This entire planet seems to be ruled by their emotions," Noh observed. "Is that something that becomes less prevalent with age, or is this simply how everyone on this planet reacts?"

"Emotions aren't  _bad_ , alien dude," Jubilee said. "They make most things worth doing. So … loosen up a little. Relax."

When Noh frowned at her, Jubilee rolled her eyes and took a hold of his arm. "Come on, I need to do some shopping before my parents get back. We can take my Dad's Jeep. He won't mind."

"Is that some mode of transportation?"

"Um … only my parent's favorite," Jubilee laughed. "And I upgraded the speaker system so you know … totally the right ride to cruise in."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tony had taken the opportunity to grab Scott and make a beeline for the War Room - even if he did still have Sophia in his arms. "I think it's time to compare notes," Tony said, smiling to himself when Scott waved at Sophia and she grinned then buried her face in Tony's neck. "It's been too long."

"They haven't checked in with anyone at the tower?" Scott asked with a growing frown.

"Not so far," Tony replied. "Cap's starting to pace, if I'm being honest - and you know how much Cap doesn't like to get himself worried about Logan."

"He's got every reason to be concerned. If someone's making a play for them, they'd fall into the nastier category of kidnappers."

"And knowing what K could do on her own - I do  _not_ want to have to cross paths with her if someone is pulling the strings on both of them," Tony said. "I can find no scenario where that ends well."

"No. It would be catastrophic one way or another," Scott agreed. He let out a breath as he ran his hand through his hair. "Okay. So. What did she tell you?"

"Hardly anything," Tony said. "What about you and Logan?"

Scott let out a bark of a laugh. "You're being funny right? Because … yeah. He just said he had something they needed to do together and that it might take a week or so." He shrugged. "To be honest, I kind of thought he might have talked her into another baby."

"You know you can't  _really_ repopulate mutantkind by only using those two, right?"

Scott gave him a dry look. "We need to figure out where they went," he said, blatantly ignoring Tony's poorly crafted joke. "Do you still have that tech in place to find her metal?"

"I do," Tony agreed. "I even talked him into letting me analyze  _his_ , too. In case of emergencies, of course."

"How hard was it to get her to talk him into it?" Scott asked with a smirk as Tony took control of the screens and started pulling up tracking information on the holo table.

"Not as hard as you'd think," he said. "I told her I wanted to be able to find him if he wandered off alone - she just … told him he could fight her or go easy."

"Has to be more to it than that."

"Well, if there is - they kept it to themselves." Tony frowned deeper as he activated the trace remotely - and then sat back, concentrating on the results as they came in, absently playing with Sophia's hair. "Might take a while …. You know, since they never told us a general heading."

"Yeah, we hit the same kind of trouble when we're searching using Cerebro," Scott said. "Charles is a little quicker than Jean, but it still takes time to sift over the whole planet."

"And you can't find them as easy with Cerebro, right?" Tony said, finally turning toward Scott as the floating wire-rendering of the planet glowed one time zone at a time as Tony's program hijacked feeds from dozens of satellites in orbit.

"Yeah, they're naturally resistant to telepaths," Scott replied, though he was holding his breath as he waited for the results. He hadn't wanted to be the one to bring it up - but it  _had_ been longer than Logan had estimated. And the normal time that would have passed that would tip Scott off about it being a celebratory bit of lateness was even well gone, too. The fact that he knew Logan would have his comm off wasn't making him feel any better - and the fact that he knew the two of them had  _rented_ a car to get around wasn't very encouraging either.

But as Scott found himself lost in thought wondering  _where_ they could be … his only real focus was the wire rendered globe … and the fact that they were running out of time zones.

"I probably should have started in Madripoor," Tony muttered as the time zone just before that of Japan lit up.

Both of them leaned forward, waiting for the map to light up … and fully expecting madripoor or Tokyo to be illuminated brighter than the rest of the globe … only to stare as it lit up the same as the others around it. "They're not there …"

"We still have the rest of the pacific to cover," Scott said. "Lots of islands, atolls, and our west coast still."

"Yeah," Tony breathed out, frowning deeper and absently snuggling Sophia closer.

And several long, tense minutes later both Scott and Tony were simply staring at the fully-lit up rendering of the earth … with absolutely no hot spots.

"Are you sure it works?" Scott said after a long moment, turning Tony's way.

"Yeah. It does," he said. "It's found her before a few times. And its even found him a few miles underground. If they're not showing up … maybe they're deeper than that."

"This doesn't make sense," Scott said, frowning. "I thought this found the metal. Are you sure you used the right profile?"

"The alloy read out is right there," Tony said. "And even if they melted it down again, it'd show up." He held up both hands for a moment. "I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm just saying that there's no good reason it's not showing up." he let out a breath. "But … I'll check it out when I get home. There has to be something screwy. Maybe it's the remote access. I'll double check it when I get back to the lab."

"Good," Scott said, though the muscle in his jaw was working overtime.


	8. Not A Trace

Tony had been sure to rush right home - with Sophia in tow, even if James was staying. It wasn't that Sophia didn't have a laundry list of willing adoptive aunts and uncles that wanted to keep her - it was more that  _Tony_ needed the contact and the reminder of what was at stake to keep him from going off the deep end.

The fact was, he wanted to get Sophia  _home_ with her parents before the birthday party for the Summers' kid happened. Because if K and Logan weren't back by that time, he'd be bringing James back to the tower with Sophia. That was K's directive, after all - and even if both he and K were in separate, loving marriages … he couldn't turn her down for that. Not when he knew both of the Howletts were trusting him with their  _kids_.

It was an annoyingly genuine and somber reminder not only of how much she thought of him, but of how  _inherently dangerous_ it was to be who Logan and K  _were_. 'Most Dangerous Mutants Alive' wasn't really a threat to others, after all. At least - not as much as it was a threat to Logan and K themselves.  _Everyone_ wanted to either take them out or bring them  _in_. Even with Weapon X dead and gone - there were still more organizations than Tony wanted to think about that would kill for any  _one_ of the Howletts. James and Sophia included.

Which, was of course at least  _part_ of why K wanted Tony and Jan to be the ones to take them in if something went south. After all - if someone managed to take out Logan and K while they were with the X-Men, the kids would need someone who could obliterate their opposition. Not only with  _tech_ , but with the weapons Tony designed? No one could stack up to that.

It was just … a sobering reality that Tony honestly hated thinking about. And having Sophia snuggle up under his chin with one arm around his neck and the other holding on to his t-shirt put a face to it. It did not however make going over the search half a dozen times, both automatically and manually, any easier. Every time the full globe lit up, Tony's frown deepened and he unconsciously held Sophia a little closer, even as she slept on his shoulder like a little blast furnace, softly sighing whenever he'd been still for too long and she needed to resettle.

He was going through it for the fourth time with a slightly altered search protocol when Jan came into the lab with a look of alarm on seeing Sophia. "I talked to Scott," she said softly as she took a seat next to them. "He told me what happened - or didn't - and he was calling to see if you had any answers yet."

"Not yet, no," Tony said, his tone distracted, even as he leaned his head against Sophia's, snuggling her one-armed. "The algorithm is right. The math behind all my protocols … it's  _right._  They're just … they're not here and I don't know where the hell they might  _be_  at this point."

Jan blew her bangs out of her face. "Why don't you let me take her, then you can at least use both hands."

Tony swivelled his chair to face her, still leaning his head on Sophia as she slept. "What, you think she's uncomfortable?"

Jan grinned and shook her head lightly. "No little girl could say that when they're  _that_ solidly asleep." She didn't wait for Tony to counter-argue anything before she gently picked Sophia up off of his shoulder and let her snuggle in with her. "We'll be in our room. Clearly, she needs the cuddles."

"Clearly," Tony agreed, stretching out as he got to his feet. He'd spent enough time sitting down and being still. He needed to move … movement helped him  _think_ better. Faster. And as much as he liked how grounding it was to cuddle a little one, the window on calm and reasonable thinking had closed. "I'm taking her back if I can't find them."

"You'll find them," Jan said as she turned to leave with Sophia still asleep.

Tony waited until the door to the lab was closed solidly behind them before he even considered his next steps … though his AI was ready and waiting for him, as always anticipating his needs. Only a heartbeat passed before the first chords of an old Clash classic echoed the lab, fueling Tony with his  _first_ idea on how to expand his search protocols. "Right. Searching for the metal alone isn't working," Tony muttered as he narrowed his eyes and turned toward the holotable that was projecting out all the intel he had so far. "Add in their DNA signatures and expand the search protocol. These two didn't just walk off on their own to go this far into hiding. Someone had to have helped them. And no one that  _could_ get a drop on either one of them would collect unless they had DNA confirmation on who they were taking."

" **Is this a worldwide search, or do you have something more targeted in mind, sir?** " the AI queried before starting to offer suggestions on the most likely sources of trouble world wide.

"Best to just hit all of them. No reason to rule anyone out based on  _our_ business dealings," Tony said. "And I don't want to waste the time just to go back to start up again."

While the system started the more intensive scan through the most encrypted databases in the world, Tony made his way over to a nasty little system he had created not two years ago specifically to worm his way into SHIELD's servers remotely and invisibly.

He  _knew_ that SHIELD would be monitoring the big searches and likely piggy-backing off of his good work. But, K had never lost her distrust of SHIELD - and Logan wasn't exactly relaxed around them either. It was subtle as time went on, but it was still there - something K had taught him to look for. And just for that, he knew he couldn't rule out SHIELD making a play.

"Alright, lets see what you're hiding," Tony said under his breath as he cracked his knuckles, not blinking at all before he simply dove in - blatantly ignoring the ringing cell phone next to him with the image of a not-at-all-amused Cyclops.

* * *

In Westchester, Scott was clearly frustrated as he left yet another voice message for Tony. "I know you're working on this, but you need to keep me in the loop, Stark," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his ruby quartz glasses on top of his head and his eyes closed tightly. He hung up the phone and took just a moment to blow a patient breath out of his nose before he put the glasses back on the bridge of his nose and turned to watch his kids as they  _tried_ to engage James in their little games.

And to Scott's dismay, not only was James not playing with them, he was watching Scott with an intensity that echoed his father almost perfectly. He sighed, mindful of the fact that he  _knew_ James was watching him. "We've got a couple days before the party," Scott said as he picked up his mug and headed over, not even attempting to operate under any delusion that he didn't  _know_ James was watching him. "You think you have time to go fishing on the lake with me?"

James frowned slightly at that as if he thought it was some sort of trick. "Su-ure," he said slowly, then turned as Kate and Kurt came around the corner, blushing and smiling at each other in a way that had him wrinkling his nose. "Isn't Tommy gonna get jealous if you're flirting with Kurt like that?" James said, which not only got the new couple to pause - but the  _gasp_ that came from Kate was almost too much to keep Scott from laughing.

" _James!_ I'm  _not_ … that's just …  _ugh!_ Why are you like this!" Kate shot back as James pushed away from the table. And though the little guy managed to dodge  _Kate_ , it was awfully hard for him to out run a teleporter as Kurt scooped him up and hung him upside down.

In spite of his growing somber mood, James couldn't help but burst out laughing when he found himself inverted with his hair nearly brushing the floor. "Cheater!" James called out.

" _Laecherlich_ ," Kurt chuckled. "I'm only using what God gave me to help catch you and  _bring you to justice!_ " With a roar, Kurt started tickling James mercilessly - and both of them were howling with laughter in no time since of course, James fought back in the tickle war. A heartbeat or two later, Kate dove in with them - helping Kurt, of course. It was terribly one-sided, and James was at their mercy until Kitty and Jubilee came in from the horsebarn - having done the chores. One moment, James was on the verge of actually  _hitting_ one of them out of frustration and being so incredibly overwhelmed, and the next - Kate's hands simply met air as Kitty phased him out.

"I've got you, little brother," Kitty said, pulling James to her chest as Jubilee pounced to counterattack.

James was wiping the tears of laughter from his cheeks as he watched Jubilee play  _dirty_ in his place. "They had to  _team up_ on me," James said smiling again as Jubilee contorted herself into all kinds of insane looking positions - flipping around Kurt even as he teleported to get some distance.

"Of course they did," Kitty laughed just as Jubilee forgot to take the tail into account - and a moment later, Kurt had tripped her for Kate to attack. "Hold on. I have to help her now."

"Okay," James said, stepping back as Kitty ghosted through the floor and then popped up on the other side of the fight before she pulled Kurt away from the tickle  _war_  to let Kate and Jubilee duke it out properly.

The fight was impressive, too. Kurt couldn't move back to help or hinder when Kitty had him phased out with a bit of advice: "Don't get in the middle of sibling things, fuzzy Elf. We have to get through it ourselves."

"Is that your parent's rules or …"

"No, that's like sibling rule of law. Let them handle it," Kitty laughed while Kate and Jubilee's tickle war turned into a wrestling match … which was when Noh found himself drifting toward the living room where the scuffle was happening. For a moment, he stood in the doorway watching as Kate set a very solid looking pin on Jubilee - but that only lasted long enough for Kate to  _think_ she'd won.

Jubilee grinned up at her and blew a lock of hair out of her face before she bent herself nearly in half to catch Kate with one leg and pull her backward.

"No fair! When did Mom teach you that!" Kate called out.

"When you were  _sucking face_ , most likely," Jubilee shot back gleefully, twisting around until she had Kate into a pretzel. She was sitting on her back, giggling as Kate refused to quit - looking for a way out of the pin when Noh started to clap and everyone in the room turned his way. "He gets it!" Jubilee was clearly  _highly_ entertained, though likely not as much as Noh was.

"I doubt you're on the same page as to  _why_ he was clapping," Kurt said under his breath at the same time James rolled his eyes hard and said. 'Oh. It's  _you_.'

But Noh really wasn't paying much attention to Kurt and James - particularly when Jubilee had such a  _lovely_ blush high on her cheeks. "Jubilee, that was  _magnificent_ ," Noh said - his voice easily portraying how truly delighted he was at the little display. "Especially considering that you're  _only_ double jointed! You should be so proud." He offered Jubilee a hand up, which she took, and as soon as she was on her feet, he couldn't help but continue. "We should celebrate with some slushies!"

Jubilee smirked up at him as she fixed her hair, re-setting her hot pink sunglasses on top of her head to keep her bangs out of her face. "That totally sounds like a plan," she said, unable to stop herself from smiling when he was so enthusiastic - and in such high spirits.

"But we have to set up for Nate's birthday party," James said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes as Scott came over to rest his hand on James' shoulder.

"I'm going to want to have a word with the three of you girls, too," Scott said. "Alone."

"It's about Mom and Dad isn't it?" Kitty said, which was enough to wipe the smiles off of all of the Howlett girl's faces.

Scott let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, it is. Tony's looking for them right now. And apparently he's busy enough that he can't be bothered to answer his damn phone."

"Oooh, you said a bad word," Jubilee said under her breath, which had Noh frowning at her and her sisters shooting her a serious look. "I'm just saying, Uncle Scooter swearing is a measure of how bad it is. That's all."

"Why don't you wait until you have something new to tell them?" Jean suggested as she stepped into the room with Nate watching the group and trying not to smile too broadly.  _Let her take a few hours to herself._

Scott's jaw tightened slightly as he watched the way Noh was absently smiling at Jubilee when she wasn't looking her way.  _I have concerns, Jean._

_I'm sure you do, Mr. Summers. But I don't think you have to worry about Jubilee. Remember that boy that grabbed her butt in the mall?_

Scott smirked, though he tried to school his expression.  _The one that she'd been crushing on for months?_

_Yes. The same one she put in the hospital with burns and a dislocated knee when he pushed. Let her have a little fun. If things are as bad as Stark thinks, this may be her last shot at a little age-appropriate fun for a long time._

Scott sighed as he turned to Jubilee. "Do  _not_ go anywhere -" She wilted visibly, the beginning of what Scott was sure would become a very loud argument on the tip of her tongue before he held up one hand and insistently finished before she could start. "-without a panic button, a comm, and a tracer or six."

Jubilee blinked at him for a moment then nodded sharply. "Done." She spun on her heel and took a hold of Noh's hand. "Come on, I'm driving."

"What are you taking?" Kitty called out.

"The Jeep- duh."

"You better make sure you put gas in it when you bring it back!" Kate said, arms crossed. "I have a date tonight!"

"I guess you'll have to take mom's truck if we're not back in time," Jubilee sang out, then fell into a giggle as they headed off with slushies on the agenda - though even that had Scott narrowing his eyes slightly behind his glasses as Noh once again began to gush to Jubilee about how impressed he was with her flexibility - while offering to show off his 'triple-jointed' tricks.

Jean carefully navigated James and Nate out of the room while Kitty and Kate shared a look and refused to step leave. "I thought Tony had a sure fire way to find them," Kitty said, looking far more serious than her years should have allowed.

"He did. It failed," Scott said quietly, still watching to see if James or Nate were going to come back at any moment.

"Is it an equipment issue or is he just … being  _him_?" Kitty asked, re-crossing her arms.

"Hey," Kate said, turning toward her as Scott tried to calm her down.

"I doubt it's an equipment issue and it's the only thing he's focusing on right now," Scott said. "So we  _want_ him to be  _him_ right now. He will figure out how to find them. And as soon as I know more, I'll have you girls join me in the War Room." He glanced toward the hallway. "But until then - I need you to be careful. Watch out for your siblings."

"Where's Sophia?" Kurt asked. When Jubilee left, Kurt hadn't bothered leaving - especially since if Kate didn't tell him what had happened to his two favorite ferals, Kitty most certainly would. "I thought for sure she'd be with Jean."

Scott's jaw twitched as he tipped his chin down and when he spoke, his tone was something a little more … terse than he'd been using so far. "She's with the Starks."

Kitty darted forward before the other two could even begin to react - and as soon as she got close enough, she wrapped Scott up in a hug. "She'll be home in no time."

"I don't know," Scott said as he wrapped her up, and before they could get too comfortable, Kate slipped in too. "I think he's planning to keep her until we can find your folks."

"So … again … no time at all," Kate said firmly.

"We'll talk about it later," Scott replied quietly before the three of them broke up from the hug. "James was right though. I do have a lot of work to do before Nate's party."

"We can help, right Kurt?" Kitty said, smiling innocently his way as Kate let out a insulted sounding 'hey!'.

"Of course," Kurt said. "We need to wait for the Jeep to return anyhow." He smiled at Kate impishly, his tail swaying playfully behind him.

* * *

Back at Stark Tower, however … Tony's intensive search had gone from questionable to concerning as it became crystal clear that wherever K and Logan had disappeared to was off of any servers he'd found so far. Which meant that whoever had them had incredibly deep pockets. Which, was good news only in the fact that the list of possible suspects was so insanely small.

What was  _more_ concerning however, was the fact that several  _other_ mutants that had been classified by SHIELD and others as  _highly dangerous_ had also gone missing. So for the time being, Tony's attention was forced into splitting … continuing his search for K and Logan - and looking into who  _else_ was classified as 'highly dangerous'. He was pretty sure he knew who most of them were … it was just a matter of warning them to stay close, and to get the two Howletts back before anything went south.


	9. A Theory Forms

Jubilee had taken to spending her spare time when she was alone just sitting in Logan's Jeep. She had a concentrated frown on her face as she stared at the gauges and controls. She was in the driver's seat with one hand on the wheel and the other clutching the keys and it was very clear that Jubilee was growing more and more concerned.

"Hey! If you're not going anywhere, you can't just …  _sit there_ and keep it to yourself!" Kate called out as she and Kurt bounced into the garage.

Jubilee looked up at her and shook her head, rolling her eyes as she clutched the keys tighter. "That's so totally not what's going on - and you know it."

"I don't know, Jubes," Kurt said with a grin - his tail swaying lazily behind him. "That very much looks like what's going on to me." He smiled wider at Kate. "But I'm perfectly fine if you want to keep the Jeep to yourself. I have faster ways to travel."

"I'm not calling  _dibs_ ," Jubilee huffed as she tumbled out of the Jeep and dropped the keys on the front seat. "Go if you want to. I don't care right now." She bumped Kate's shoulder with hers as she went past her - scowling as she went, but Kate wasn't going to let her get away with it. Not  _again_. This scenario was playing out far too often for Kate's liking and it seemed to be getting more and more frequent.

"What is your problem?" Kate said, the heat rising up in her cheeks with a blush.

"My  _problem_ is that Mom and Dad are  _gone_. As in  _no trace gone_  and you're just ... " she gestured to Kate and Kurt with both hands and an expression that fell somewhere between irritation and disgust. "Ugh!"

"Tony will find them!" Kate insisted. "He always has before!"

"Yeah?" she challenged, tipping her chin up. "Then why hasn't he said anything? Why hasn't he found them if he's got it all figured out? Huh?" Kate frowned deeper as Jubilee kept pushing - and it was clear that Kurt was starting to think about how long it had been, too. "He's never taken this long to find  _anything_. And we know he can find the metal fast. So where are they? Huh?"

"I don't know," Kate replied as she finally pulled her phone out to try and reach out to Tony and Jan. She didn't even think about what she was texting as she worked up her message, and if it wasn't telling of how much trouble their parents were in - the fact that there wasn't an immediate response from the Starks was a major red flag. But by that time, Jubilee had already stormed off in a huff.

"I'm going to see if Jean can join up with Uncle Charlie," Jubilee said. "Two telepaths are better than one."

As she stomped by, Kate stared at her phone, watching the three little dots dance as Jan worked up a response. Which was all the more disappointing when her response was 'We're working on it.'

"What?" Kate breathed out, staring wide-eyed at the phone. Jubilee was right. This … was very bad.

* * *

"Any word yet?" Steve asked as he stepped into Tony's lab. Tony had been working non-stop trying to find K and Logan and yet - even with all of his tech and all of the connections he had, he couldn't find even a trace.

"No," Tony replied shortly - and the fact that he hadn't elaborated on any answer in the last few days was a marker of how upset he was. Tony  _always_ had something to add- something to  _say_  - but now?

"You have to have found  _something_ ," Steve said, leaning against an open work bench. "Even if it wasn't them - you had to have found  _something_."

Tony's jaw locked and he stilled for a moment before he shoved the delicate device that was in his hand across the workbench hard enough that it shattered when it slid off the other side of the bench and hit the floor. "No,  _Cap_ , I don't. I don't have  _anything_ that will help us find them. The  _only_ thing I have is more missing people and that isn't much of a help, is it now?"

"Wait - who else is missing?" Steve asked. The truth was at this point, any news was news. And if it wasn't about Logan and K -  _maybe_ it could at least amount to a breadcrumb to give them a clue. "Tony. Who's missing?"

Tony had one hand on his hip and the other was scrubbing his face. "No one we really  _want_ to find."

"Names.  _Please_."

"It's … several of the members of the 'most dangerous mutants' list," Tony admitted. "And I'm trying not to jump to conclusions on anything, but here we are … with not one, but  _two_ missing surgically enhanced ferals - both of whom have a known record for being manipulated mentally, and if that wasn't bad enough,  _I can't find the damn metal!_ "

"So … do you think they're bringing in the dangerous mutants or … who's got the backing to take this many of them out and hide them from you?"

"That's just it. The organizations that would have had the know how and the force to do that were wiped out by Magneto. And I'd still be able to find the adamantium inside them. Or … outside them. It's not like the stuff is easy to replicate - it doesn't  _degrade_ and I have samples of  _both_ of their exact metals. So I can't even say I can't get close. Hell - even on a wider spectrum search Im coming up empty."

"How does that even happen, Tony? You sayin' there's someone smarter than you out there playing keep away with our friends?"

"Oh, I know there are people out there smarter than me, they just don't have the same resources I do. They'd have to be backed by someone else - someone that … that's  _not the point_. The point is that they  _should be here._ "

"Tony," Steve said, stepping closer to get a hold of his friend's arm. "You need to take a break. Take a nap. Eat a Snickers. You're not helping anyone when you're like this. Jan can run the scans while you're resting. Or Banner can. We have other people who can take over." When Tony tried to blow him off, Steve pressed. "How long have you been awake this time?"

As Tony glared at Steve, his phone rang with Kate's self-programmed ringtone and Tony answered it without dropping his gaze one iota. "Hey princess, how are things in Westchester?"

"Have you had any luck finding my Mom yet?" Kate asked - which was enough for Tony to blink himself away from Steve and pour his attention into answering Kate properly.

"Not yet, no, but I'm not done looking. I'll find them. They can't have just disappeared." He walked to the far side of the lab, frowning deeper the longer he talked to Kate, racking his brain for the solution. And by the time he hung up the phone, he thought he had the answer.

"Space," Tony said once he'd ended the call and turned back to face Steve. "They have to be in space."

"You think aliens took them," Steve said flatly.

"Don't act like it'd be the first time something like this has happened," Tony pointed out. "Kree, Brood-"

"-you don't have to list-"

"-skrulls-"

"Tony."

" _Shi'ar_." Tony held Steve's gaze as he said it. There was no secret to the fact that the Shi'ar had been a royal pain for a long while to the X-Men in particular, and Professor Xavier's longstanding  _arrangement_ with the Empress Lilandra wasn't something entirely conventional.

"Why would they want Wolverine and K, though?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Tony countered as he headed over to his laptop and started typing far faster than Steve could follow. "They've seen Logan decimate their forces and those of their enemies. And it's not like most of  _our_ militaries didn't want to get their dirty mitts on our growly friends. Why not the Shi'ar too? Or the Kree for that matter. I doubt either of them would be above using them to take apart the other."

"That's some pretty serious speculation," Steve pointed out. "Have there even been any of their craft near Earth since they disappeared?"

"That's what I'm looking at right now," Tony said, hyper focused on the screen in front of him. "Just looking through SWORD's records … they'd have everything we'd need to know right here …"

Steve leaned over Tony's shoulder, half holding his breath as he frowned at the screen. He didn't know what all they were looking at, but he did know that he'd see it when Tony did - if it was there.

"HA!" Tony shouted, almost punching the screen as he celebrated his find. The expression on his face was on the borderline of triumph and rage. "Unauthorized landing of a Shi'ar craft right around the time our favorite ferals went on their super secret mission."

"Tony that landing was in Eastern Europe."

"So?"

"So they weren't headed to Eastern Europe."

Tony waved him off as he spun th chair and then hopped up to his feet. "You don't know that for sure. I know for a fact K doesn't disclose exact locations of where they go when they do stuff like this. Not until she returns. Hell - last time, she told me they were headed to California, but they ended up in Tokyo. You know what she told me?" When Steve frowned and shook his head, Tony continued. "They had to go to California to  _get_ to Tokyo. She doesn't play by the same rules we do. You  _know that_."

"Then we need to get a team together," Steve decided. "I'll call Cyclops. He'll want to know what's going on."

* * *

"I've told you," Charles said as patiently as he was able. "The Shi'ar are far too busy dealing with matters on the other side of the galaxy to be here taking our teammates."

"And I'm telling  _you_ ," Tony said, "it's the only thing that makes sense. They're not on this planet or I'd have found them by now. And the Shi'ar  _were_ here."

"The Shi'ar were picking up some old biphasic illuminators from Muir Island," Charles insisted. "They were under Dr. MacTaggart's constant supervision the whole time."

"You must have missed something," Tony said. "Because they aren't here. I could find them even if they were  _dead_. And they're  _not_."

Charles looked far more exasperated than his X-Men were used to seeing. "Then you must be missing something."

"You should at least  _look into it_  before you unilaterally decide your bloodthirsty friends are innocent," Tony shot back, looking just as exasperated.

"Mr. Stark," Charles replied with narrowed eyes. "I've been in near constant contact with the Empress for weeks. When I'm not trying to find Logan and K, I've been discussing matters of  _her_ world with her. She has no way to hide something like that."

"Then perhaps," broke in a new voice, and Tony looked surprised to see Noh looking like he was ready for a fight, "it is not the empress who gave the orders. The Shi'ar have power struggles all the time."

"Lilandra is far more protective of our arrangement and the protection of this planet than you realize," Charles said. "She wouldn't risk sending anyone that wasn't loyal to  _her_ here."

Noh raised an eyebrow. "And yet," he said calmly, "your teammates are missing.  _After_ the Shi'ar arrived. Your faith is admirable but stupid."

"Noh-Varr, to be frank, we don't know when exactly Logan and K disappeared. It could easily have been before  _or_ after we realized there was a problem." Charles shook his head. "There are other players in this game. I'm sure of it."

"That's a theory," Noh said. "Tony Stark has another theory. And unless your world has very much abandoned all sense of logic and the scientific method, I would like to point out that you cannot disprove a theory without  _testing it_."

Tony gestured to Noh one handed. "You gonna disagree with the guy who's fought Shi'ar in …" he turned to Noh. "How many different realities?"

"Somewhere between twenty and thirty," Noh said, waving his hand. "We were just getting started when I was shot down."

Again, Tony gestured openly. "What's so hard to understand here?"

"I have a ship," Noh pointed out. "We could see for ourselves. If Stark brings his scanning technology and finds no adamantium on Chandilar, then you will be proven right."

"It wouldn't be on Chandilar." Charles had his eyes closed as he waited for the inevitable. Especially since he  _knew_ he'd have to finish his thought. "It would be on Hala."

Noh froze. " _Why_."

"Hala's been under Shi'ar rule since before Lilandra took over," Scott offered - the first he'd really had to say since Tony had come in and started a very accusatory back and forth.

Noh narrowed his eyes, looking between Scott and Charles, before he simply spun on his heel and left - to go to his ship, muttering under his breath about the Shi'ar and the X-Men's alliance.

* * *

Jubilee was in the middle of an obvious fight with her sisters - not even considering any other option as she pushed Kitty back hard. "And I told you - I don't  _care_ who has them,  _I'm going with whoever figures it out to get them back!"_

"Jubes!" Kitty hissed, going incorporeal for a moment to keep from hitting the wall. "No one is saying we can't - I'm just saying we need to talk Cyclops  _into it_ if it means an off-planet trip!"

"Yeah, well … he's not my  _dad._ And Dad's not gonna argue with me  _when_ I blast the losers that took him, either!" Jubilee shot back. By that time, her hands were in fists and colorful sparks were erupting from her hands, fizzling and popping bigger the more angry Jubilee looked. "You go ahead and play little miss perfect with the Summerses.  _I'm_ gonna go with Iron Man if that's my only option." She turned on her heel and blew her hair out of her face. "You can tell Kate she can stay home and keep an eye on the littlest ones with  _Kurt_."

"Like that'll work," Kitty said under her breath.

It just so happened that Noh was on his way to his ship when Jubilee stormed away from Kitty, and although he was already on his way to going to free his planet - single-handedly if he had to - he couldn't help but pause when he saw the look on her face. "Ah, you're ready for war too. Excellent. You can come with me."

Jubilee tipped her chin up as she looked him over. "Don't slow me down."

"That's not possible," Noh said.

"So who are we blowing up?" Jubilee asked as she fell into step with him, though she was still tense. "And why do you  _care_  about this fight?"

"Shi'ar," Noh said simply - as if that was an answer to both questions.

"Oh, that's just perfect," Jubilee grumbled, then fell into a mumbling string of curses about the Shi'ar that outlined exactly how much Jubilee disliked the last time they'd crossed paths. "What do they want with my Wolvie anyhow?"

"I don't have that answer," Noh said. "But Stark said the Shi'ar were on the planet, and your parents' signatures are not on this world." He paused. "And I have just found out Hala is under Shi'ar control," he admitted.

"So you're not going to fight for the same reasons I am." She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. As long as I get them back, I don't care if I have to blow up everything there." She paused and stuck a finger in his face. "You can't go without me. And we can't go without the right supplies. Got it?"

"My ship should have all we need," he promised quickly.

"Um. No, space goat. I need real food. Real human teenager food. You know. The good stuff? Sugar? Yellow Dye number 5? All that."

Noh smirked quietly. "Alright, alright. You gather your supplies." He sighed and added, "And I'll talk to Stark about inputting his adamantium search into my system."

"Dude. You're strong - and you know. Part goat. You can carry for me." She broke into a broad grin. "It'll be fun."

Noh was shaking his head - but smiling all the same. "Oh, am I a beast of burden now?"

"Would that insult you too much to do it for me?" Jubilee asked, crossing her arms.

"I can certainly help you, but I feel I would be a mere beast if I was  _only_ carrying things for you and not sharing the burden," Noh said, still smiling.

"Like I trust anyone with my gobstoppers," Jubilee said before she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Come on. We need to do this now before the adults come to the same conclusion. They'll be all …. Stupid about who gets to go if we don't get the jump on them."

"My ship," Noh pointed out. "My rules. That is how the saying goes, right?"

"Ye-eah, but like … that's seriously hard for the old dudes to wrap their heads around."

"Then it's lucky you have me," Noh said. "I am not an X-Man or an Avenger. I'm a Kree. I don't have to abide by their rules."

"Keep that outlook!" She called out before they reached the kitchen and she started pulling out  _most_ of the candy and sugar she could get a hold of. "This is the good stuff. I'll even share with you since you're you know … your ship. Your rules. My snacks. It's a thing."

"It seems to be," Noh agreed, smirking over the top of the stack of candy in his arms.

"Great. So. Okay. Let's … load up and wait for Cyclops and Stark to pull their heads out and meet up, right?" Jubilee looked past him to see if anyone was coming. "Do you need anything for your ship? I still don't understand how it works. Like … nuclear reactor or lightning ..."

"Oh, nothing so primitive," Noh laughed. "She runs on imagination. Epiphanies.  _Belief_."

"Okay, Mr. Rogers. If you say so."

"I don't know what that reference means."

"It's okay. I'll get you a trolley and a blue sweater for you land of make believe. You'll figure it out soon enough." She took a moment to open a package of peanut butter cups - shoved one into her mouth, thought about it for a moment then unwrapped the other and turned to Noh. "Open up. I'm sharing."

"I - okay," Noh said - around the peanut butter cup she'd shoved in his mouth as soon as he started to say something.

"Good, right? Tell me you have tastebuds at least," Jubilee said brightly.

"I do," Noh said. "It's very sweet."

"I know, right? Best part of it!" She dropped her sunglasses onto the tip of her nose. "You know. Next to kicking all kinds of alien ass." Jubilee tipped her head. "No offense."

"Only some taken," Noh said.

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't had trouble with any Kree yet. Just … jerky know it all Shi'ar that are way too uptight for their own good and stupid Skrulls and ooh! There was that Brood issue a few years ago too .." she shivered. "So gross."

"Well of course you haven't had Kree troubles," Noh said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone as they headed for his ship.

"Dude. I didn't say they weren't trouble? I just said that I  _personally_ haven't had issues with them yet."

"Because you are intelligent," Noh said. "And know who to direct your ire toward. Like the Shi'ar."

"Like … anyone who tries to tell me how I should  _behave_ ," Jubilee corrected. "Don't try to tell me to act like a lady if you're buzzin' around with all your business hanging out for the world to see. And feathers in  _all kinds of places._  Hmmph. Weirdos."

"You seem to have a very specific gripe," Noh chuckled.

"I'm just saying … the kinds of things they call  _clothes_  leave very little to the imagination." Jubilee followed him all the way to the ship as they chatted. "And then they're so  _uptight_ about their rules and what's allowed and who can speak and who  _can't_. Freedom of speech! I'm an American, dude. I say what I want.  _When_ I want … ta  _who_ I want. An' I'm not letting some … feather britches wearing psycho tell me otherwise."

Noh looked completely amused. "I like your description. Though I will say it seems you might not have gotten along with the Kree on my planet. We also had rules," he teased.

She turned his way again. "Then let me preemptively tell you to lighten up. I'd like to have one species of alien around that I didn't find repulsive based on attitude alone."

"Jubilee, don't be ridiculous. I don't hold  _you_ to the rules of  _my_ universe, just as I don't follow the rules of the X-Men."

"Which rules do you not like?" Jubilee asked as they packed away her sugar stash, and she was sure to hand him a blue pixie stick - smirking at him as she did so.

"So far, they seem reasonable except for your rules concerning lethal force," Noh admitted.

"Oh, you'll get along fine with my parents then," Jubilee said.

"They disagree with the rules as well?"

"They just … ignore that one when the situation warrants it." She shrugged. "Like … if it's someone messing with kids or picking on people hard enough that have no way to fight back …"

Noh smirked. "Good." He set down their supplies and set to work on his ship, adjusting a few things here and there before he nodded. "Now then, I just need the adamantium signatures from Stark and I should be able to look for your parents once we arrive."

"That's Tony's  _favorite_ toy," Jubilee said with a laugh.

"And?"

"I think he'll want to go with it."

Noh waved a hand. "Fine. But he cannot get in my way."

"I doubt you'd be going for the same creeps," Jubilee said. "And he'd be good to have around anyhow. His suit has on-board sensors for the adamantium, too. Scan on the fly."

"Good," Noh said again. "Then I can focus on the Shi'ar presuming to run Hala."

"Sweet," Jubilee aid, dropping into a chair not far from him as he began prepping on the bridge. It wasn't long before the monitors showed the group headed their way - and obviously ready to go to space.

"You need anything special from us?" Tony asked when Noh opened up the ship. "Besides the scanner, of course. Anything special for the rest of this crew? Weapons? You name it." He gestured behind him where Jan, Scottm and Charles were headed their way - all of them suited up and ready for space travel.

Noh smirked and shook his head. "I have plenty. As you pointed out, I've fought Shi'ar many times before."

"Had to ask," Tony said with a nod. "So … tell me where you need this …" he held up a device that was glowing blue and the size of a credit card.

Noh gestured with one hand, and part of the  _Marvel_ opened up, creating a space in the wall much like a port. "The  _Marvel_ knows what to do."

"Awesome," Tony replied, mesmerized already as he dove right in, watching the ship take over on the hardware side of things - and smiling to himself in spite of the situation. "This should be interesting."

"Don't mind him," Jan said as she took Tony's hand and led him deeper into the ship. "He's just got a deep appreciation for all things techy."

"Then he should appreciate my ship while we are traveling," Noh said. "She's nothing like what you have in your universe."

"Criminal," Tony agreed. "Just criminal."

"He'll be quiet for most of the trip," Charles said as he and Scott came closer. "And I hope you won't take offense if I join you. I would still like to keep any interactions from becoming a full blown war."

Noh gave him a critical look. "Really."

"I know the Shi'ar were tyrants where you are from, and I won't begin to deny that they share some of those qualities here as well, but the Empress … she is not like those that ruled before her."

"And yet they have Hala, and I know what they do to Kree," Noh said simply.

"Hala was taken before she ascended to the throne," Charles said gently.

"Then it will be liberated under her rule," Noh said.

"That is a point we've been trying to work out for some time," Charles promised. "She saw the way that some of the Shi'ar had been treating the Kree - and she was not pleased."

"Charles, you must be terribly naive," Noh said in a sigh. "You have words and nothing more, and I have a captive people."

"I have seen her protect Kree children myself, Noh," Charles said. "She is nothing like the Shi'ar you know."

"We will see," Noh said. "Even killers can have sympathy."

"I believe that there are few beings in our universe that can truly meet the description of pure 'killer'. That's not something that a person lives to be. Regardless of what planet they hail from." Charles sighed. "But yes. We will see. I pray that you'll find a way to open your mind to other possibilities."

Noh gave Charles a dry look. "I'm a Kree," he said as if that explained everything. "And Hala is in peril. What other possibilities do I open my mind to?"

"We shall have to see, won't we?" Charles replied.

Noh shook his head, dismissing the idea with a wave as he headed for the bridge. "Terrans."

"Jubilation," Scott said as soon as he saw her. "Go home. You know your parents wouldn't want you going across the  _country_ let alone the galaxy."

"I invited her," Noh said over his shoulder.

"And while I appreciate that, I would like very much for your first meeting with her family to happen without any casualties," Scott replied evenly.

"And  _I_ would like very much for you to get out of my way," Jubes shot back. "I'm not going to sit back and  _babysit_ when Mom and Dad have been missing and nobody's  _done_ anything about it until now."

"Hey, inaccurate description of events," Tony called out, then looked between Scott and Jubilee. "Didn't you say your little fireworks were a lot more potent in space?"

Jubilee pointed at Tony. "See?  _He_ gets it."

"I'm just saying - she had K and Logan training her practically since she was in diapers. Pretty sure she can handle her own with all of us backing her up too," Tony said before Scott could argue. "That … and she focuses a lot more finely when she's  _mad_ about something, so … lotta potential for destruction if she gets into it."

"That's not the point," Scott said in a sigh.

"My ship, my rules," Noh called out - smirking toward Jubilee. "She stays."

"Ha!" Jubilee said, sticking her tongue out at Scott.

"Hey, Ju-ju bee," Tony called out as he and Jan found a spot to settle in. "Why don't you tell our captain here about your plasmoids. Maybe he's seen something close to what you can do."

"Why don't you come fly with me," Noh offered. "I can show you how to pilot the ship, and you can tell me about your plasmoids."

"O- kay then," Jubilee said slowly, then turned to watch Tony for a moment ."Thanks, Uncle Iron Man." She turned back to Noh, pivoting on her toes slowly. "So. If this is like Mom and Dad playing pool, we are in so. Much. trouble."

"I'm not sure what that means," Noh said, taking her arm as he led her to the bridge.

"Right. I just …  _nevermind_."

Noh smiled at her, then showed her the control panels of the ship, grinning when they shifted into something that Jubilee would be better able to use. "She's reacting to what you already know about flying," he explained.

"Well … most of what I know is from the Blackbird," Jubilee said. "And … you know. Video Games."

"That would explain a few things," Noh said. "You have a slight Shi'ar tinge to your controls, too. I noticed that in the blackbird."

"Yeah, that was a little upgrade from what it was," Jubilee said. "Scott liked a few things the last time we went up and had to deal with them. So …." She settled in and let out a breath. "What are we doing, Major Tom?"

"I was an ensign, but I appreciate the flattery," Noh smirked.

"No, that's …" Jubilee laughed to herself and pulled out her phone … scrolling through it quickly until she found the right song and handed him an earbud. " _Here_. You can't  _possibly_ pilot a space ship and not know this song. It's a crime. Against.  _Everything._ "

Noh smiled as he put the earbud in his ear - and then broke into an even wider smile. "Oh, I like this," he said, nodding his head along to the song.

"Of course you do! It's Bowie! Everyone likes him. Unless there's something like … fundamentally wrong with them." She gestured to the controls. "So.  _Major Tom._ "

Noh chuckled. "Ah, but you're piloting," he said, shifting so he could take her hand and guide it to the controls for takeoff. "So you're the major." He grinned when the engine purred. "Or admiral. The  _Marvel_ likes you."

Jubilee lit up on hearing it. "Oh! Well.  _Not too bad yourself,_ pretty ship!" She grinned up at him. "Let's get this party started, then. Right?"

Noh grinned widely. "You're in control. She'll go as fast as you like."

"Oh,  _really_?" Jubilee asked, then fell into a fit of giggles as they got into the air - and went off like a  _shot_. "I think I like this."

* * *

Logan and K had entirely dropped any pretense of knowing what the hell was going on around them - or how to get out of it. Not when they were in a place that was  _pitch black_  and somehow seemed to absorb sound, too. They had managed to find each other through scent alone, but the journey to even do  _that_ had been rough and once they did meet up, the only way they could hear the other was to get  _incredibly_ close. But even then the sound fell flat quickly.

They were used to minimal light - low enough light that only animals were really able to navigate, but this was something well beyond that. In fact, they would have been lying if they had tried to say that they both weren't entertaining the possibility of both of them having gone blind … somehow. It was just  _too dark_.

It made navigating the strange landscape nearly impossible - if not for the fact that they  _did_ have their other senses working for them. But, sound was still hard to fathom when the very open, very dark, very  _empty_ space around them seemed to suck up every bit of sound. When the two of them had finally run into each other in the blackness, it was a shock at how hard it was for them to be heard for the other - and they hadn't moved out of each other's orbit since. But that, so far, was the only comfort they had.

They were wearing down. They'd been hiking when they disappeared - and they had both automatically went into survival mode, but they had no idea how much time had passed, or where they were so even rationing their stores was incredibly difficult.

So they did all that they could … and tried to find some form of shelter in the darkness, even if all that amounted to was keeping a hand on each other.


	10. Erosion of Faith

"James, there's no sense being so mad," Jean said as she sat down to try  _again_ to get James out of his funk. He and Sophia along with Tony and Jan's kids had just been brought back to the Institute when the team left for Hala- he just didn't realize that Tony  _and_ Jan were going to be going to space  _with Scott and Charles_. And to make matters  _worse_ , the new creepy alien weirdo that had been trying to suck  _one_ of his sisters' fillings out had disappeared with  _another_ of his sisters after the first one had turned him down.

He'd heard Kitty talking about how the weirdo had hit on both Kate and Jubilee, and since Kate had started in with Kurt - which was an entirely different kind of irritation - he'd  _seen_ the idiot following Jubilee around. Long story short, he was  _not_ happy about any of it. At all. Kitty wasn't helping the situation, either. Not when she kept saying that Jubilee didn't look that interested.

Interested  _at all_ was a problem with a sister-sucking weirdo from who-knows-where.

Especially when it was  _Jubilee_ in question. She'd always been nicest to James and okay,  _maybe_ he was more protective of her because of that, but also because this creep had already tried to go after  _Kate_  too. That was just  _not. Cool._

"I'm not mad," James lied, scowling to himself.

Jean raised a single eyebrow. "What makes you think you can lie to me?" she asked - not in an accusation but in a gentle tone that was still somehow, almost, an accusation anyway.

James looked up at her for a moment before he pushed away from the table. "I'm gonna go read in my room."

Jean's shoulders relaxed as she watched him get up. "James, you don't need to run off."

"I have homework to do."

"At least  _stop lying_ to me," Jean said, shaking her head as the little guy headed off.

But James crunched his shoulders up - at least until Maria and her brothers caught up to him. "Are you going to the game room?" Maria asked. "Steven and Howard were going to have a racing game showdown, if you want to play too."

"No," James grumbled. "I don't wanna play games right now."

"Do you have a headache?" Howard asked, looking concerned. "Are you sick again?"

"Or are you just worried?" Steven added, catching up to them quickly.

"I just don't wanna talk," James said through his teeth.

The three Stark kids stopped and took a moment to share a look, and though Maria was the first to rush off to James, the boys nodded once in perfect agreement then quickly caught up too. "Then we'll just keep you company," Steven said. "Quietly."

"I'm just going up to my room," James insisted.

"Then we'll go with you," Howard said, nodding along.

"We're not used to our mom and dad disappearing for more than a day or two and we know they'll be gone for a while," Maria told James quietly. "They're worried, that's all. We won't be trouble. You know that."

James looked over to the boys and let out a breath, nodding to himself. "Don't touch anything that belongs to my parents. They'll know if they come back."

"You mean when," Steven said with a frown but at that, James just turned around and started walking for the suite the Howletts used, which had the Stark kids even  _more_ worried for their friend.

* * *

"This … cannot be good," Natasha said to herself as she leaned back in her chair - the note from Bucky was still freshly decoded in her hand. His report said clearly that Hydra was scrambling to get a hold of Pym particles of all things … and whatever they wanted them for could  _not_ be good. For anyone.

She got up and quickly made her way over to Steve and let him into the loop on what she was seeing. "There are … hundreds of uses that I can think of off the top of my head that Hydra could put Pym particles toward," Natasha told him. "And not one of them is going to do anything but cause us a lot of trouble."

"That's pretty much par for the course, don't you think?" Steve said in a thick tone as he looked over what Natasha had. Once Bucky had given her a starting point, Natasha had taken off - and using the satellites in orbit, she had even managed to pluck out photos of the Hydra higher-ups in question.

Some of these creeps had been in hiding for  _years_ , so whatever it was that had them hopping and taking the chance in the open had to be  _hot._

"Of course, this would happen when we're missing some of our best people," Natasha said. "I know for a fact that Logan would love to take out Von Strucker's other eye."

"We'll just have to tell him about it when we bring him  _home_ ," Steve said. "Gather a team. We'll hit 'em as soon as we've assembled."

Natasha watched him leave with a smirk before the grate to the ventilation system banged open and Clint slipped out - covered in dust and entirely too amused with himself. "He does realize that the whole 'Avengers Assemble' thing was just a gimmicky newspaper headline, right?" Clint said as he dusted himself off and Natasha quit trying  _quite so hard_ to hide her smile.

"Maybe," she said. "But it really doesn't matter when we have a  _job_ to do, Barton."

"Me too," Kate insisted - tumbling out behind Clint, though it was pretty clear that he wasn't expecting her to  _join them_. "I'm going too. If I can't go save my parents, I'm gonna go shoot Hydra."

"Katie-Kate, you can't just attach to the mission."

"Um … I don't know if you got the memo? But the X-men are totally helping on whatever you're up to while my parents are gone. Especially with Tony and Jan gone too - I am not letting you and Aunt Nat out of my sight while my parents and sparents are missing."

"Who's stayin' home with James and Sophie?" Clint asked, though he couldn't help but to reach over and take the cobweb off of Kate's headband - earning a dramatic shiver from her.

"Um … Kitty by default. She's oldest anyhow. And brother-Spider is sticking around because Steven and Howard are  _helping_ with the littler kids." Kate drew her shoulders up to her ears. "I think Storm said something about pitching in too? But … there are lots of other X-Men that are planning to stick around and hold down the fort."

"If Von Strucker is going to be involved, it wouldn't hurt to get some extra firepower," Natasha admitted, then turned on her heel with her phone already to her ear. "I'll call Jean and see who's up for it."

"Yeah, we'll just inform Cap that he's going to have X-Men stepping in with the usual suspects," Clint said as he and Kate headed off to tell Steve.

* * *

Things in the darkness were only getting worse for Logan and K, however. They still had no ide where they were. They had no reference points for which way was up let alone directions, and what little comfort they had in each other had been wrecked when they managed to bump into another captive in their little blacked-out hell.

The two of them had been shuffling along on the soft ground, carefully dragging their feet - arms out ahead of them as they went blindly along. Their footing had been uneven - unreliable, and unstable in some places - making any kind of travel tricky at best and treacherous at worst. It was frustrating to try and move, but depressing and mind-numbingly terrifying to stay put .. .or they thought it was. Until the two of them bumped into something warm and broad with an overly familiar scent that K hadn't picked up in  _years_.

The sound dampening effects of the place they were in almost made it so that they didn't hear him when Creed called out in the pitch black. "Who tha hell-"

He'd cut himself of mid-sentence, and both Logan and K took a step back, first clutching each other's hands tighter, then letting go entirely. It seemed that even scents were falling off quite close to their sources.

And just like that, it was a disaster for all involved.

Creed had scented out Logan and K just as easily as they'd picked him out of the darkness, and for a terrifying moment, K held her breath - afraid that only she and Logan were blind in the dark. But the wild swing Creed took - lion's claws out - hit her solidly across her shoulder and halfway down her back.

It didn't matter that he'd been aiming for  _Logan_  - or hoping he was aiming for Logan. Hitting her was enough to tip him off that there was blood he could spill in the darkness. He lunged for her again, though he came up empty handed.

K barely heard the  _whump_ when one of them bashed into the other - and the roars sounded muted and distant, even when the two of them crashed close enough to K that the soft ground trembled.

There was  _so much blood_ in the air it was hard to scent what was happening or who was hurt … and K did her best to stay close, but also out of it, though inevitably, that wasn't going to work out. She had to choose … try to stick close or get the hell away from them both.

Only … there was no way she was going to ditch Logan - blinded and nearly-deafened - in the darkness. So, instead, she got to her feet and listened hard, and as soon as she thought she was near to the fight … she dove in to try and help and hoped like hell that both of them would make it through the other side.

* * *

"So," Jan said, breaking into the flirting that was happening at the bridge. "How far  _is_ Hala from here anyhow?"

"Right around 50 kiloparsecs," Scott said, to which Noh looked pleased to hear that some of his companions knew  _something_ about the universe around them. "Took us about a week in the blackbird to get there."

"You must have used several wormholes to accommodate the distance," Tony said, frowning thoughtfully. "Sounds fun. When do we start?"

"The first of such jumps is around the other side of your Mars," Noh said as he finally stepped around Jubilee to take control of the helm again. "I'd recommend you all be seated when we take them. I'll go easy on you. No reason to endanger all of you for a crime that's already been well established."

Jubilee rolled her eyes as she took a seat. "Yeah, and you want us in good shape when we go kick some Shi'ar tail."

"Yes," Noh agreed. "I have razed planets in the past, but it would be best to do so with other talented and substantial fighters on my side while dealing with  _shi'ar."_ He sniffed and shook his head. "As vile as they are, they can be pesty to fight en masse. Especially if they've been stealing advancements from those better than them."

"They have been," Scott confirmed, though Charles looked irritated at Scott's open admission.

"They do as all successful warmongers do," Charles said. "I know it's the same in places that the Kree have won. They take full advantage of whatever will further their empire."

"But the Kree create their  _own_ technology," Noh-Varr replied in a huff. "Shi'ar do  _no such thing._ "

"Can we just get there and kick their butts and get my parents back," Jubilee said, cutting across both of them. "Please." She spun in her chair, fixing both Charles and Noh with a clear loof of irritation.

"Of course," Charles said. "I'll keep my thoughts to myself."

The jumps to get to Hala were quick … and clearly Noh knew a few shortcuts that were new to Scott - that or his ship did things that the X-Men didn't yet understand - which was highly likely. But when they were done - and they'd reached Hala days ahead of what Scott had estimated - Noh couldn't help but let out a little sound of distress at seeing his home planet in such disarray.

Shi'ar battleships were hanging in orbit close tucked into the rings that surrounded Hala - closest to Kree-Lar and Rad-Nam, two of the largest cities that made up  _most_ of the surface of the planet. The outskirts of the city were clearly being ignored though and that is where Noh ended up taking his cloaked ship to land. In the wastelands outside of Kree-Lar. It was clear that the action in itself was distasteful to him, and the heroes aboard the Marvel sympathized deeply. It had to be torturous to see your home in such a state - overrun by invaders.

As soon as they were on the ground, Tony pulled his first trick out of his sleeve and sent out a few dozen micro drones to scout the area as Noh and Scott looked over the maps already available. And while the drones were out scouting, Tony put his own cloaking device on and flew up into the atmosphere to scan the planet for Adamantium. It shouldn't have taken long, and Tony was supremely confident - especially after he found the flagship that had been to Earth not long ago, but the longer he scanned, the more anxious he got as he realized that he might  _just_ have been wrong.

"This doesn't make any sense," Tony muttered to himself, blinking openly at his readouts. Sure, it hadn't shown on the  _Marvel_ , but there was admittedly a little disconnect between Earthly tech and the amazing leap that Noh's tech provided. He was  _sure_ that some of th questionable half-pings would show up as something other than vibranium, but …

"Any progress, handsome?" Jan asked as she buzzed up next to him. "I can do a little recon if you're having trouble with their atmosphere."

"Maybe that's part of it, but … Jan, I got nothin'," Tony admitted.

"Are the scans finished?"

"Well, no-"

"Then you don't know that yet," Jan replied in a bracing tone. "It's not over yet. So don't talk like it is. Besides, our little alien friend is all fired up and ready to fight Shi'ar. I don't think we have a  _prayer_ of getting home before he's done razing them."

"True," Tony agreed, then turned to fly back with Jan to where they were staging. His facemask was barely open when he realized how closely Scott was watching him - and with a hopeful expression to boot. Which made it that much more disheartening when Tony mildly shook his head.

"You don't have to risk yourselves," Noh was saying. "I'm perfectly capable of dealing with the worst of their forces if you think you can get to your  _empress_ and have her tell you something of meaning."

"She's already agreed to meet me in Rad-Nam," Charles said. "Less aggressive that way - and less likely for her to have Deathbird or her ilk along with her."

Noh paused. "Then you don't have a total love affair with the Shi'ar," he said. "I was under the impression that you were more sympathetic to their ways."

"I thought I was clear," Charles replied. "I am  _only_ close with the empress. She will be the key to dealing with this situation seamlessly."

"Yes," Noh agreed. "She will."

The group headed off to the designated meeting point - though Noh was  _not_ ready to trust that it wasn't an elaborate trap and Tony wasn't exactly going along with it blindly either. Instead of travelling with the group, he'd cloaked himself and flown ahead, carefully watching the readouts come in from much further out as his scanner went to work. He was  _sure_ he just needed a little more time …

Lilandra was waiting to meet them with a small enclave of her closest protectors -a handful of Shi'ar that she'd managed to sway into her means of thinking, which according to her brother and sister made them blood traitors to the entire Shi'ar race. Her greeting to Charles  _looked_ warm, even if it was entirely telepathic.

But as soon as the protection was through the door, a few others followed in her wake and Noh took it entirely wrong when the handful of stragglers removed their hoods to reveal that they were  _Kree_. For a moment, Noh stepped back, then jumped to his own conclusions. "You brought Kree  _slaves_ with you?" He said, hissing the words out by the end, though he had started solidly enough.

"What?" Lilandra said, wide-eyed as she turned to look behind her. "Of course not."

"Call it what you will, but-"

"We're not slaves," one of the Kree said, cutting across Noh, and stepping forward, though it was clear the guards didn't appreciate his stepping so close to their empress. "We're leaders of the rebels."

"Freedom fighters," Lilandra said with a nod. "Not rebels."

But Charles almost startled at that. "I thought you were making headway…"

Lilandra turned to him with a warm smile. "There are more plots and plans to have my head than there are Shi'ar who  _don't_ fear my brother. I'm afraid, my dear Charles, that my death is a looming eventuality rather than an abstract existential issue." She straightened up and her expression hardened. "And if he plans to kill me, then I intend to do as much good for my people and those we're ruling over before he can destroy us all."

"Then perhaps you can enlighten me as to what's happening before we rush in to help you," Charles said, watching as the Kree from this reality's Hala studied Noh with a critical eye.

"I wouldn't see you rushing in otherwise," Lilandra agreed before she looked up at Noh. "I hope you'll at least listen to what I have to say on where the weak points are in the military's armor." She gestured to the holotable at the center of the room. "Please. Hear me out before you try and make my brother's job that much easier."

Noh drew in a breath and walked with Jubilee toward the war planning session - both of them had their chins tipped up defiantly, but were too curious to turn the opportunity down much to Charles' delight.


	11. The Battle For Hala Begins

The plan in place was one that even those that had devised it were not entirely sure would work in their favor.

The Shi'ar patrolling Hala had always been on the lookout for technology that the Kree may have been hiding from them - and as was their way, they planned to take and utilize any technology that they could.

Shi'ar weren't exactly  _developers_ of technology as much as they were talented scavengers that could make good use of what they could find. And neither Noh-Varr or Tony Stark liked the idea in play at the moment.

"Should we even be getting in the middle of things here right now?" Tony said to Jan quietly as he worked on what Noh claimed to be an outdated bit of tech that the Shi'ar would drool over … just before it blew up in their faces.

"Tony, we're freeing enslaved people now," Jan pointed out. "We kinda do need to help Lilandra if she's going to do … whatever it is she's doing. I'm still a little foggy on that, to be honest."

"Yeah, but the whole purpose here was to find K and Logan," Tony pointed out, frowning to himself as he worked. "And they're not here. So … this is a waste of time -" he held up one hand. "Not for the Kree we're helping, no. I get that. But I don't want to get sidetracked when we have a few pretty impressionable kids at home waiting for their parents to show up. Both us  _and_ them."

"You know Jean will take care of them," Jan said. "She's jockeying for another one, after all."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, then set the tools down in front of him. "Hey, Space Goat coast-to-coast, take a look at this, would you? I think it's ready to be armed, but this is your tech, so …"

Noh made his way over with a frown - particularly since he had been pulled from an intense conversation with Jubilee on blowing bubbles more efficiently. She was incredibly skilled at the big ones - and he was entertained to no end when, as he got a good sized bubble, she somehow managed to blow a second, smaller bubble  _inside_ the first. Noh picked up the device Tony had worked on, and after a moment smiled to himself as he turned it over. "You streamlined the trigger mechanism."

"Yeah, well … kinda what I do," Tony pointed out, though he didn't try to fish for complements. Not when he wanted to get the job done and get  _back._

"And just in time, too," Noh said with a smile. "Lilandra will need this before she starts her assault." He frowned to himself and then nodded as he packed up the device. "If you see Jubilee before I do, tell her to save some Shi'ar for me."

"Right," Tony said slowly as he started double checking his systems. "You haven't met her parents yet, right? Because you need to …"

Noh was gone in a flash before Tony could finish his sentiment. He was too caught up in marveling at the fact that he was working with the Shi'ar empress to remove the Shi'ar armies from  _his homeworld_. It was simply more than what seemed logical. And it absolutely went against anything Noh had been taught his whole life.

He simply had to remind himself that this was a different world and obviously things were very much askew here.

* * *

"We're in the right place," Natasha assured Steve. "And it's the right day and time, so just relax. They're being paranoid or their source is slow."

"Didn't think Hydra would tolerate that."

"They won't," Natasha agreed. "And they'll kill whoever it is that's passing the Pym particles on, too. Save us the trouble of giving them a trial."

Steve gave her a dry look, but didn't argue it. The last thing they needed was for Hydra to gain the capacity to move their weaponry or chemical agents or  _nukes_ around unnoticed just because they were shrunken down. Killing the messenger would simply take out a link in that chain.

 _We're in the right place,_  Jean projected out to the Avengers running the mission.  _I haven't heard a word about Pym particles though._

 _What's the chatter?_ Steve projected, frowning to himself just because this wasn't the normal method of communication for  _his_ team. Even if they had been working with the X-Men for years now. It was still … different.

 _Something that was from Reed Richards' lab_ , Jean replied.  _I don't think they know what they've got if you want me to be frank._

"Well that's just great," Steve grumbled. "Not like Reed'll have something perfectly sane or safe either."

"This is just how the eggheads work, Steve," Natasha replied with a coy smile. "So let them get close to making the transfer and we can … liberate whatever they've got."

 _Marvel Girl, if you'd do the honors of relaying the message, we can strike as soon as you 'hear' them start the transfer,_  Steve said.  _And I'll even make sure that I tell Cyclops that you ran right hand on this one._

 _Oh sure. Just to get him to make that face,_ Jean laughed.

 _I can't believe he's still even partially impressed after all this time,_ Steve admitted with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. In spite of all the time the teams had spent backing each other up and all the times that Scott had  _stood up_ to Steve, it was still crystal clear that there was a measure of hero worship in place. Particularly when someone else on Scott's team got to run missions with  _Captain America_.

 _We all have our soft spots,_ Jean defended as the teams settled into better striking positions and Jean looped everyone in on what was happening. By the number of guards and soldiers lining the area, it was clear that this was the kind of trouble that needed shutting down. Fast. Especially when before they got into the transfer itself, the talk with the Hydra creeps made it clear what was at stake - the appropriation of some of Reed Richard's tech married to mind control equipment that had been taken directly from Department H in Canada.

"Guys," Natasha said, suddenly a lot more focused. "This is the fight."

"Of course it is," Bucky grumbled over the comm. "That's what we came here for."

"No. No. I mean …  _this is the fight_. It's Hydra. Tony was wrong -"

"I'll be sure he hears it," Clint said over the comms.

"Often and loudly," Kate agreed as Jean tried hard not to laugh as she jumped ahead to read Natasha's mind on where she was going.

"Hydra's behind Logan and K going missing," Jean said - which got all of them to hesitate as they reordered their priorities, though Clint was the first one to be back on track.

"Doesn't change our focus, guys," Clint said. "Still have to stop them from being awful, generally speaking - and specifically, we gotta play keep away with whatever's in the briefcase."

"We just need to capture the one in charge to find out if they have Logan and K," Jean said. "They can be unconscious. I don't need them awake to pick their brains."

"Eew, mental image," Kate muttered, though she was far more focused than she had been before - side by side with Clint. "Jubilee is going to be so mad that she isn't the one to save mom and dad …"

* * *

"Get your hands  _off_!" Jubilee screeched just before an overly large Shi'ar soldier clamped his hand over her mouth. She was still fighting for all she had, but the battle had kicked off before Lilandra's forces were ready.

The empress was right. She'd had a leak in her inner circle - and whoever it was that had tipped off her brother had also been careful to warn Chancellor Araki and Vice-chancellor K'Tor about the X-Men's involvement.

"Where is the Phoenix?" K'Tor asked Jubilee in a hiss over her shoulder. She could barely breathe for as tightly as she was being held, yet K'Tor was still demanding his answers.

"Not. Here," Jubilee said, switching from outright fighting to trying to get to her panic button.. If she could just let Scott  _know_ she was in trouble … K'Tor squeezed harder and Jubilee squeaked. She was trying to reach deep down like the Professor had been teaching her to - trying to find the psychic potential - or to even call for the professor … but the edges of her vision was turning black and she was seeing stars that were NOT in the sky.

She didn't have enough in her to concentrate on Charles for long before she passed out and K'Tor smiled as he tossed her unconscious body toward his second in command. "Put her in with the slaves."

Across the battlefield, Noh was just getting down to work, truly enjoying himself as he tore through Shi'ar viciously. He simply couldn't believe the sheer numbers that he was fighting against on  _Hala_ , and what's more, they were slowly working toward getting the upper hand. It was beyond his comprehension.

And there were so  _few_ Kree fighting back. He decided to regroup with the X-Men - Cyclops was certainly faring well on the far side of the battle, though it was clear he did not enjoy his task in the least by his expression.

"Where is Jubilee?" Noh asked after he took stock of all of their group that had travelled from Earth. "Did she decide to stay back as you suggested after all?"

"No, she was fighting last I saw," Scott said, then went to his comm to try and reach out for her. "Jubilee, if you're too busy for a status report, at least hit your call button."

But the light didn't go off that said she was responding. "Jubilation," Scott said in a more even tone - not sure if he needed to get angry with her for not replying or if she was in honest trouble. "If you can't reach your button, project to the professor. Please."

"Where is she?" Noh asked as he turned to fight side by side with Scott.

"I don't know," Scott admitted. "She was near the water tower when I saw her last. She was doing  _well_. She always does in space. "

Noh turned toward the water tower in question, but when he saw nothing but Shi'ar making  _progress_ in that area, his heart leapt into his throat. She could  _not_ be taken captive. That was simply unacceptable. Particularly to  _Shi'ar_. Before Noh could voice his concerns, he zipped toward where Charles was tucked away trying to project mass casualties into the minds of the Shi'ar fighting them - a useful tactic that had many of the Shi'ar soldiers rushing off in self preservation. Even if it wasn't real, it was still incredibly effective for Charles and Lilandra.

"I can't find Jubilee," Noh said, betraying his own feelings by the tone in his voice and how distressed he clearly was on saying it out loud. "You need to locate her.  _Quickly_."

Charles looked almost irritated as he considered Noh, though he only took a moment to do so. He was  _busy_ , after all … and after a quick brush of his mind, Charles simply went from listening to Noh to looking further out - into the minds of the Shi'ar soldiers nearest them … but of course, they had no knowledge of Jubilee. "We will find her," Charles promised. "But I can't do much right now. Not when I'm holding back Akari's men!"

Noh huffed and straightened up an instant before darting off into the droves of Shi'ar forces, letting loose all that had been trained and programmed into him from the moment he was created, but even at that, the swarms of Shi'ar were so thick that he alone couldn't make a dent and the reality of it was so disheartening - here,  _here_ of all places.  _Hala_  was overrun and though his companions were fierce, they weren't  _enough_. Not to save his homeworld. And not even, to save their own Jubilation.

He was losing heart, knowing that the Shi'ar weren't likely to keep her alive- terrans could be notoriously delicate - especially those as finely featured and  _tiny_ as Jubilee. But - his small league of terrans were doing more than  _just_ holding their own and he knew it would be wrong to leave them to do the heavy lifting for Hala, so for the moment, he did his best to shove down his concerns for Jubilee and work toward helping Hala. Which was easier said than done. When he found himself overwhelmed, he also found that he was unable to break into a white run … which was even more concerning to him and had him fighting with frustration as his fuel.

And around him, the Shi'ar kept coming. So Noh dug in as hard as he could. If he couldn't find her, he'd simply have to fight for as long as he was able.

* * *

Because the Starks had gone to space, and because the Howletts were MIA - and the Summers were both on a mission … the  _kids_ that the three couples had between them were hunkered down at the school in Westchester under the ever-watchful eyes of their older siblings and a handful of X-Men … and Rhodey.

Rhodes, was of course well acquainted with Tony and Jan's kids, and even Logan and K's … but Rachel Summers was a little  _different_ than he was used to dealing with. But when the X-Men remaining in Westchester saw how interested that Rachel was in giving Rhodey all her attention, they simply slipped back to let it happen.

Rachel was first, of course - but only because the Stark kids were circling tightly around James. They would never admit it, but they were getting anxious too. And Sophie was asleep near Storm, curled up with Nate, so the smallest were at least out of the ridiculousness that was the Kindergarten crowd as they advanced on Rhodey. But that didn't account for Natasha and Clint's two little redheaded twin girls who positively  _worshipped_ their older redheaded friend Rachel.

He  _saw_ Rachel coming, of course. She'd approached head on, just like her mother. Which was fine. He was pretty sure he could handle one sassy little redheaded kid. But he didn't see Alena and Lexi coming in from behind him … so the cry of surprise was genuine when he got hit half a second before he was expecting it by the two Barton girls.

By the time Rachel joined in - giggling madly - he had lost track of what was going on … and he almost didn't hear the alarms go off until the red flashing light came on in the room to let the adults know that trouble was fast approaching.

Upstairs, in the Howlett's suite, James and the Stark kids all froze and waited as the alarms rose, and in a blink, James had gotten up and taken Maria's hand. "Come on," he said quietly, waving the two shocked looking Stark brothers forward. "We gotta hide. Quick."

"This doesn't happen like this at  _our_ house," Howard said, wide-eyed, though he wasn't foolish enough to ignore James' advice. Not when this was new for them. Any time that the mansion had been close to being raided, the Stark kids had been  _home_ , only to hear about it after all was settled out and safe. This was new territory for them.

James rushed down the hall to where his parents had shown him to hide - there were several spots carved out just for the kids of Xavier's to tuck in and keep their heads down. Even if things had gotten better for mutants, they weren't going to forget how things had  _been_ , and every kid  _living_ there knew the nearest spots to go to keep safe - and keep out of the way.

Downstairs, as the alarms blared, Storm was the first in motion to deal with the intruders, even if she still had the little ones in the room with her. Her eyes fogged over white and all the hair on her body stood on end as the electricity of her lightning began to concentrate. The first soldier through the doors was the first casualty, though as always, Ororo aimed to incapacitate, not kill. He was moaning and smoking across the hall and she'd already recharged to hit whoever else might try and make the same error.

Across the room, Rhodey was mobbed. Instead of being tackled, the three little redheaded girls had all but climbed on him, hiding halfway behind him as he tried to do  _something_ to help. It was just … still severely odd for him to be standing there one minute and the next be behind Storm, who was … literally pushing a cyclone toward the men across the hall.

So he did the next best thing he could think of and spoke up so Storm would hear him. "I'm taking the kids," he said as he stopped to pick up Nate and Sophie - both of whom went to him readily. "I'm not used to taking kids out of this kind of thing."

"You'll learn quickly enough," Storm replied just before the thunder rumbled low enough and close enough to shake the ground and throw some of the soldiers off their balance. "Get them to a safe room."

"C'mon," Rachel said, tugging at Rhodey's shirt.

"I know where they are," Rhodey promised, only taking a moment to make sure that Lexi and Alena were holding tight too. Their little journey wasn't easy though. Between Storm blasting people back, Bobby freezing foot-thick ice around the house to both exclude more soldiers from coming in and trapping the ones that had already come inside, Hank McCoy frankly  _earning_ the Beast codename in ways that Rhodey had never seen before and Warren managing to be positively terrifying in spite of his angelic good looks … Rhodey was trying to fight his way through random packs of soldiers with a bunch of kids hanging off of him.

He was close to the Danger Room when he was stopped by half a dozen armed men, and it was clear he had no  _choice_ but to listen … until webbing started flying past him when Peter joined the fight. Rhodey turned to tell Alena and Lexi to stay close - but found himself swearing as they disappeared  _through_ the wall. "Tell a guy when you're going to do that, Kitty!" Rhodes shouted, only to be answered by Kitty herself as she popped back through the wall to grab a hold of him, the two little ones in his arms, and Rachel, who looked supremely relieved to see her.

"What  _took_ you so long?" Rachel demanded as Kitty grinned, pulling them all into the Danger Room.

"I've been pulling people into safe spots since this started," Kitty said. "And … making sure to fry their tech. They had some weird stuff up there."

"Did you happen to catch what badges they were wearing?" Rhodes asked just before he pointed over his shoulder. "And you know you're gonna need to get me out there, right?"

"Didn't notice their affiliation," Kitty said. "And yeah. I know. But I need to find James and the Stark kids."

"Just get me out there and stay with these guys," Rhodes said. "I can find the Stark kids."

"And James."

"What? You think I don't count him with them anyhow?" Rhodes teased just before Kitty phased him  _up_ through the ceiling to avoid the men still in the hall trying to figure out how to get in.

Once he was away from Kitty and most of the trouble brewing around him, Rhodes hit the button for his suit and got to work, already looking for Tony's family and sure they couldn't be  _too_ far away.

* * *

"There's nothing useful in this case," Bucky said as he looked through the contents of the steel briefcase that he Hydra creeps had been gathered up to transfer.

The battle there had been surprisingly swift - particularly after Natasha managed to snag the case and book it back to where Steve was working over some overly large men. After the initial breakdown of things there, SHIELD swept in to reinforce the small team of heroes - which meant that even the further out support teams from Hydra were shut down quickly from a helicarrier's mobile army.

"That doesn't make any sense," Natasha said with a frown as she made her way closer to the case, looking around Bucky to see for herself.

"There's a vial of Pym particles, but … doesn't look like much in it," Bucky said, prodding at the vial in question.

"Just because it doesn't look like much doesn't mean -"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just saying. For the security around this detail, I thought it would be just … more." Bucky stepped back, clearly disappointed.

"Maybe they're just trying to reverse engineer them," Kate offered. "All you'd need is a little, right?"

"Doesn't match up with the amount of money they were exchanging," Natasha said, shaking her head before she closed the case and took it toward their jet herself. "I'm going to look into this further. I'm sure we're missing something here that we won't find until after interrogation."

"Yeah, about that," Bucky said, thumbing over his shoulder. "I'm gonna take the transport up to the helicarrier with the prisoners. Make sure they don't dispose of anything we might want later."

"Good idea," Steve agreed, then turned toward Natasha, who had already re-directed to the other transport that held the spies that had stolen the contents of the case from Reed Richards.

"We need to get back to Westchester," Jean said with a frown just after the badge at her hip began to flash.

"Any chance this isn't connected?" Clint said more than asked, looking like he was inconvenienced by the novelty of travel when so  _clearly_ someone was asking for a beat down by his daughters.

"No one knew we were going  _here_ ," Jean pointed out as they all rushed to the jet.

"That we know of," Clint said in a flat tone.

* * *

The hallways of the Xavier Institute were filled with an eerie combination of cool fog and green smoke. There were no noises being made outside of the soft footfalls of the overly large men stalking through the halls ahead and behind the tall, broad man who was so obviously their leader. All of them were wearing gas masks, but it seemed that they were only leisurely strolling to their ultimate destination.

They weren't searching room to room. They weren't terrorizing anyone. They were simply going through the fog and smoke until the man at the center of the formation paused and pointed his walking stick to a hidden panel between two suites. He stood back as his men tried to make heads or tails on how to open it and when they did finally get the panel to move, the hidden children inside had already succumbed to the gas and were unconscious in the same positions that they'd been hiding.

One of the men stepped forward and pulled them out one by one, laying them down in the hallway for their employer to assess. Each of the children were given a pinprick on the finger then their blood analyzed. The children whose tests came back with a green light were picked up and carried away while those without were simply left where they were in the hall with no further injury to them than what they'd endured from the gas and the pinprick.

When the little troupe left the mansion, all was still and the green gas was already dissipating along with the quickly melting ice barrier that had shielded the mansion. By the time anyone returned, there would be no trace of these men ever having been there, aside from the missing children, but there was nothing to be done about that.


End file.
